Harry Potter: Humanity's Last Hope
by Emperor Vanquest
Summary: Harry, after discovering Atlantis, accidentally activates Janus' Dimensional Transport & Time Dilation device while en route from Lantea to Earth and triggered both a dimensional shift and a time jump, which rendered him unconscious. He awakens in a star system not too distant from Earth, and finds Atlantis has carried out his last order.
1. Awakening

Harry Potter x Stargate Atlantis x The Walking Dead

**Synopsis:** Harry, after discovering Atlantis, accidentally activates Janus' Dimensional Transport & Time Dilation device while en route from Lantea to Earth and triggered both a dimensional shift and a time jump, which rendered him unconscious. He awakens in a star system not too distant from Earth, and finds Atlantis has carried out his last order: to establish a mining operation and the creation of Human Form Replicators, slaved to his will and the defense of his person and Atlantis.

**Setting:** En Media Res onboard the CityShip Atlantis, in the Alternate Universe designated AU01.

Characters: Harry Potter, Stargate, The Walking Dead, O/C.

**Disclaimer:** No profit is sought, or accepted, in the publication of this fanfiction. It is purely being written and shared for enjoyment; no remunerations are accepted or expected by the author. All right, privileges, and copyrights belong to their respective holders/owners. I freely admit to having been on a Harry Potter x Stargate kick the last few months, and will try to give special thanks to authors who inspired me on my bio page. Until then, however, if you see something similar too another author of this genre, please point it out to me and I will check my notes as to whether or not I could have accidentally modeled my characters, names, places, events after another.

I freely admit that my Captain Talia is named after a Aurora Class ship I read of in several fics, but can't recall who, (if you know what I'm talking about please link me to the story), and want to give that author credit for the name. I will when I find out who that author was, either by editing this chapter or noting later on.

Please enjoy and review with your comments, critiques. 

**Chapter 01: Awakening**

Harry Potter lay unconscious upon the command deck of the CityShip Atlantis. Having managed to recharge two of the city's three potentia over the course of the last several days with his magic, somehow, and once charged he had ordered the computer to search out the records of Atlantis' databanks on Avalon and determine the best source of trinium, naquada, and other materials that would be "near" Earth. The Computer had managed to locate such a source within a five light year radius of Earth, and had plotted a course from Pegasus. En route, Harry accidentally activated Janus' Dimensional Transport and Time Dilation devise integrated into Atlantis' systems in one of his experimental, a.k.a. secret, laboratories housed in the lower levels. Having Atlantis perform a deep system wide scan had awakened subroutines in the device which were delayed in reacting, and while in the galactic void, the devise had pulsed sending Atlantis violently into a red alert and another dimension/time.

After coming to a complete stop and running a city wide diagnostic, the Atlantis AI determined that nothing was amiss, proceeded back to its course, and noting that High Counselor Potter was unconscious, beamed him into a med bay for the emergency hologram to care for. After scanning him, the Emergency Medical Hologram determined that the High Counselor was suffering from "magical" exhaustion, as well as from a slight concussion he received from the Janus Devise activating. Having diagnosed a problem, the EMH began to treat, and the end result was involuntary bed rest for Harry for the next two days.

As he slept, Atlantis continued on its mining mission and the construction of Human Form Replicators who were tasked with servicing Atlantis, building a potentia generating orbital platform, as well as establishing a link with the existing Avalon Social Satellite Network. Finding no remnants of the previous network though, the AI instructed a portion of its mining crew to begin construction on new satellites which would be a drain on Atlantis' systems and resources for the next two weeks as hundreds, if not thousands, of satellites were built and launched.

Harry Potter would be most impressed, once he awoke, at how efficient the city's guardian, as he called the AI, was with executing his simple orders to: "Return to Avalon, and prepare for a build-up of the fleet."

**Harry Potter: Humanity's Last Hope**

*****Apocalypse Year .5***** 

Inside Cheyenne Mountain

"General," began the weary looking staff sergeant, "we've just got a communique from Area 51 Sir."

"Go ahead Steve," General Jack O'Neill of the United States Air Force, or what was left of it, began.

"Sir, Area 51 has indicated that all tests as to the virus' origin are inconclusive, and that so far it has resisted all efforts to be cured. According to Doctor Lorritson, the gene sequencing is something she's never encountered before and estimates that we are just now at the midpoint of mapping its gene sequences."

The General furrowed his brow and leaned forward against his desk at that pronouncement. "She's been analyzing the damn thing for almost a year now! How much more damn time does she need?!" At this pronouncement the general left his desk and walked to a shrine which covered a major portion of a wall of his office, which was composed of the official photo of those under his command he had lost since the outbreak was identified over six months ago.

Sighing, he turned back to the sergeant, "How much longer will their supplies last them Steve?"

"General Hammond has indicated that with current personnel, and with current efforts to maintain the perimeter of the base, and judging by the recent success of several raids on supply depots, Area 51 will be able to operate at current levels for at least another 36 months, 72 if further rationing of supplies are implemented."

General O'Neil nodded in understanding, and dismissed the sergeant. He had spoken to General Hammond over a secure channel not 48 hours ago, and he'd already shared much of what the sergeant told him…Dr. Lorritson's report though was new and troubling news indeed.

Leaving his office, General O'Neil made his way to Captain Carter's Laboratory on the lower levels, hoping she could explain things a little more clearly than the Sergeant. Finding her dissecting some sort of device, he announced himself and began his conversation.

"It's Jack Sam. I need you to tell me a little about this report I just got from '51 and Hammond's research group. They think it will take another year or more to finish mapping the genes of the virus, and by then we'll be too far gone…I need advice Sam." She looked up from the magnifying glass that was helping her examine some devise she'd taken apart. "Jack, I told you from the beginning that our salvation lay in the device and those we found like it...we are simply not evolved enough as a people, or technologically to combat this thing." Jack furrowed his brow, "Based on the archive footage, there is no indication that the device is a weapon, or even dangerous! We don't know what Dr. Littlefield did that caused the event, or what happened to him. Everything that I've seen indicates that the devise is a highly advanced piece of benign technology from non-terrestrial origins…these things we found in Egypt are proof of that. My God, this base and '51 are powered by some kind of cold fusion reactors we reverse engineered from a wreck we found alongside the device!" Sam set down her instruments and walked over to a chalk board covered in equations.

"General just based on the energy readings taken in 1945, and based on the limited experiments you've allowed me to do now, I think the device is some sort of power converter that can take a limited amount of power, amplify it exponentially, and maintain that energy. I think it could create a portal, or possibly a wormhole, and be used for instantaneous travel. I need more personnel on this General. This could be humanity's last hope…we could possibly use what we learn from it to advance our own sciences such that we _could_ cure the virus!"

Jack snorted contemptuously. "Really Carter, how many people have we lost? How many people do we still have? It's not like I can pick the phone up and requisition you a team of fucking scientists!" The General banged his fist on the lab desk in frustration. "Before the fall I saw the classified materials and knew there was potential in the device, and I knew I wanted you on it. Hammond had already started building the team by the time I was brought in, and we were a go for research. We had the device set up and ready to go in the late 90s. We conducted numerous experiments but could not get the damn thing to _do_ anything. You've been here since 2005 and haven't made any headway…and that was _with_ a fully staffed research team…"

The General took a deep breath, calmed himself, and continued. "I'm sorry to upset you Sam, but I just need you to look over this report from '51 and give your honest opinion as to whether or not they will be able to do anything about the virus in the time we have left…the last raid took a lot heavy toll on '51 and Hammond doesn't want to risk the personnel like that again. They lost most of the raiders on their last mission Sam." He hesitated before continuing, "the President and three of the remaining Cabinet members have been hit with the fever Sam. They've been quarantined, and are receiving treatment, but all reports indicate that we're going to lose them to the virus."

"God no Jack! If that's true they could have exposed half the base! Could it just be the flue?" "Sam, you know we aren't that lucky. As it stands Hammond and I are in agreement, '51 will stop making supply runs as it stands, and will enter quarantine with all top-side automated defenses activated. Hammond said that he's instructed the researchers to speed up their mapping, and to begin training soldiers what to do so that work can be done as the researchers sleep…he also has told me that all of their supplies are to be moved to a secure, and severable, underground bunker that can be accessed from topside if things go south and he has to terminate operations on the base."

Samantha looked at Jack in shock, a look of sad comprehension slowly dawned on her face. "He wants you to have an easy salvage operation doesn't he Jack?" The General remained silent as he gathered his thoughts. "Sam, you've seen how quickly the virus spreads. You've read the reports from the CDC about how it has a very short incubation period once the fever hits, and just how contagious it is at that stage." General O'Neil had wanted to launch an evac and rescue mission of the CDC but his plan had been vetoed by the President. His priority at the time was regrouping and consolidating resources to a few "key" locations…those being primarily Area 51, Cheyenne Mountain, and a few other key facilities.

An overhead speaker blared to life, interrupting Jack and Sam, "All Senior Staff and Base Personnel to General O'Neil's Conference room immediately. This is a priority alert. All other personnel are to man their stations." The voice repeated the command as Carter and O'Neil began moving at a rapid pace to the nearest elevator to get back to Jack's Office and the conference room adjacent. Organized and well-practiced chaos erupted base wide as men and women who had been in their quarters burst forth fully dressed and armed, expecting the worst, to take up defensive positions at each intersection of ever floor.

"Fuck," thought Jack, "what could possibly be happening now. There's no way anyone, or anything, has breached the doors topside." He had no infected personnel inside the Mountain, and everyone was screened on a weekly basis to ensure the virus didn't spontaneously appear in their system. "What could it be…"

**Harry Potter: Humanity's Last Hope**

Harry Potter, self-proclaimed Emperor of the Alterra Nova Star Empire, slowly regained consciousness two days after he'd been injured in the galactic void. "Guardian, report!" Harry sat up on the bio-bed of the medical bay, a place he'd sworn to himself he would avoid at all costs, as he awaited a response from the Alterran AI that formed the heart of Atlantis. He was startled to find the door to his right open and a humanoid walk through.

"Greetings Supreme Commander Potter, I am Marcus, a HFR built specifically to serve as Chief Medical Officer and your personal physician. The AI informed me that you were awake and had questions, please relax as I conduct a few scans to ensure your health." Harry acquiesced and settled back on the bed to allow Marcus to do his work. "Supreme Commander, your bio-energy signatures have returned to healthy levels, your concussion was dealt with as soon as it was detected, and your body has been able to accept a few injections of nanites that over the course of the next week or two should reverse physical damage caused to your person by malnutrition and, what the reports indicate, the physical trauma(s) you've suffered over the years." Harry nodded along as he listened.

"That's fine Dr. Marcus, if you would be release me. I want to return to the Bridge to get a status update and report on the City as well as what caused the alarm in the void." Dr. Marcus went to a panel at the side of the bed and input a few commands. After a few seconds of waiting two other humanoids in grey, vaguely military outfits, entered the room and stood at attention on either side of the door. "Supreme Commander, this is your personal security escort. Allow me to introduce you to Lt. Arnold and Lt. Donaldson, both are HFR and will remain in your presence at all times." Harry stood up and saluted the men, before turning back to the Doctor, "Marcus, how many HFRs are onboard Atlantis at present, and how were we able to construct so many in such a short amount of time. My understanding from Atlantis was that the construction of such entities required vast power and resources we didn't currently possess."

Lt. Arnold stepped away from the door saluted, then began, "Begging the Supreme Commander's forgiveness for interrupting, but there are currently 150 HFRs assigned to vital support services onboard Atlantis Sir! The Atlantis AI found a source of necessary materials and immediately began construction of HFRs to assist in the security and maintenance of the city Sir as well as carrying out the primary mission which you assigned. We will reach critical mass at around 5000 HFRs and will be able to begin construction of additional vessels of the fleet. As it stands Sir, Atlantis has secured a solar system within 5 light years from Earth, has constructed a potentia generating orbital star platform, and has begun sending out the first wave of 350 Avalon Social Satellites." "Wait Lt.," Harry began, "why did Atlantis begin construction of social satellites?"

"Upon return to Avalon, Atlantis could find no remnants of the Alterran Social Satellite Network Supreme Commander."

Harry began to walk toward the door, "I need to be on the bridge. Let's go gentlemen. Goodbye Doctor, inform me of any need you have regarding the proper staffing of upkeep of our medical facilities." With that, Harry and his two companions made their way toward the Command Spire and Command deck of Atlantis, which Harry had affectionately dubbed: The Bridge.

***** Atlantis' Bridge *****

"Supreme Commander on Deck!," came the shout as Harry and his escorts exited the transport onto the Bridge. Half way to the Command Chair, they were met by an officer who's insignia identified her as a Captain. "Greetings Supreme Commander, I am Captain Talia, and I have been assigned to function as the Senior Officer of Atlantis in your absence. I, and the crew, are pleased to see that you are well. Would you like to resume command at this time?" Harry observed the officer and the remaining crew with interest, "No Captain that will not be necessary. I would appreciate a briefing on our current status and Atlantis' current operations." Receiving a salute in reply, Harry followed along as the Captain took him from station to station and reported to him what each HFR was doing and what was going on in Atlantis.

"So far Commander we've been able to conduct a thorough cleaning of the City, and have conducted a detailed inspection. We've managed to bring 20 of 70 hydroponics bays online, and have been able to retrieve samples of enough vegetation to begin growing crops. Fifteen of the remaining bays are being converted to specialize in the growth and development of plants and organisms necessary for Alterran medicine. The remaining bays have been cleaned, repaired, and stand waiting to be used for food production once Atlantis has a sizeable population. Until then, the 20 bays in production will be able to comfortably feed up to 10,000 HFRs in addition to yourself; we have only scheduled the development and training of 5,000 HFRs at present though Supreme Commander." Harry had a pensive look upon his face, "Captain, I thought HFRs fed off of micro reactors in their bodies, why do you need to feed?"

"That explanation is a bit simplistic Supreme Commander," Talia began, "HFRs ingest carbon based organic matter which is in turn converted into fuel for the micro generators within our bodies. We were designed to function similarly to Alterrans Sir, and while we are not truly "alive" our systems were designed to mimic our masters as a tribute to their engineering prowess." Pausing to see if Harry had any further questions, and finding he had none, Talia continued, "We have completed a potentia generating solar platform that is located in this solar system's star, and currently we have fifteen potential charging as we continue to refine the materials here on Atlantis to create more, fifteen per batch." Nodding, Harry indicated she should continue, "Based on the mineral composition of several asteroids in, and near, this solar system, and the rich deposits of trinium, naquada, and other materials on this planet, which we've designated as AMP-0001, we will be able to immediately begin construction of two Aurora Class Battleships once we have completely re-stocked Atlantis' Drone Weapons platform with the materials necessary to construct and deploy Drone Weapons."

"Have we detected any native space fairing species Captain?"

"Supreme Commander," Talia began, "without a satellite network to consult I cannot answer that question right now. That's why production of a new network was authorized as a priority over and above the construction of HFRs and additional vessels for the Fleet." "I see," said Harry as he walked over to the window which overlooked one of Atlantis' many production/ship yards. He watched as like clockwork almost every eight seconds a streak of light shot from Atlantis into the void of space. "Captain, what is being launched?"

"Those are the beginnings of the Nova Avalonus Social Satellite Network Supreme Commander. In the last two days we have rushed production of 350 stealth, phase shifting, highly shielded, and highly efficient research satellites which we have launched into Avalon in an attempt to find out what is going on. Production has reached critical mass and we currently have a stockpile; one satellite is currently scheduled to be launched to a preprogrammed section of space every eight seconds until we are able to re-map the gate network of Avalon Sir." Harry turned from the window to study the Captain, "Have we been able to establish contact with the gate network? For that matter, have you been able to determine what happened with the former network? Alterran technology should have been well insulated from the effects of space and should have remained dormant until it was needed again."

"It is a mystery Supreme Commander. We have the new satellites scanning for Alterran technology and, apart from the occasional gate, we are not detecting anything; which according to the databanks is cause for alarm." Talia led Harry to the Command Chair, and upon sitting in it, brought up a holographic projection of Avalon and all Alterran colonies from Atlantis' databanks. "Here is where we currently are Supreme Commander, and here is Earth," two green dots emerged from a spiral arm of the projection of the Milky Way Galaxy. "Every yellow dot indicates what should be an Alterran settlement, outpost; the red overlay are the new satellites which we have launched so far. While we do not have enough satellites in play right now to encompass the entire galaxy and check every outpost or colony, so far nearly every planet we've checked, which should be habitable, has been found barren, desolate, and radioactive. While one or two of these planets condition can be explained by a local star going supernova, the sheer number of planets affected is giving us cause for concern."

"These five planets," the display changed to show a close up of several green and ocean covered planets, "should contain space faring and highly advanced civilizations that were just beginning to leave their home systems when Atlantis ventured to the Pegasus Galaxy 10,000 years ago. By all rights they should still exist Sir as they were stable and completely independent civilizations of one another….at least _one_ of them should have survived to the present. We have sent a cloaked reconnaissance shuttle with a crew of five HFRs to investigate each Planet Sir; their primary mission is to determine what happened to the civilizations which should be there, and secondarily they are to determine why we are not detecting Astra Portas on any of these five planets as they were gifted to their people before the Alterrans left." Harry walked over to one of the consoles and typed a few commands. Information was displayed to him on a holographic display. Face turning grim, he typed more commands, and swearing he shut down the display and motioned for the Captain to vacate the Command Chair.

Assuming Command of Atlantis, Harry opened a come line to the entire city and surrounding platforms, "_Now Hear this: This is Supreme Commander Potter, Emperor of the Alterra Nova Star Empire. All Atlantis Systems are to be given a level one diagnostic and the compositions of such systems are to be compared to specs. If there are any anomalous systems, or systems which are not noted on the original designs for Atlantis I am to be notified immediately. Until such time as Atlantis has been verified as operational, all production facilities are to halt their current tasks and are instead to begin the manufacture and launching of 140 Type J-C4 Orbital Defense Platforms." Harry took a breath and a moment to check a screen near the right side of the Command Chair. "Each platform, once completed, is to be launched into the orbit of planet AMP-0001, hereafter designated as "Hadrian's Keep," at an equidistant spacing until a functional defensive grid is created. Once the grid is functional, Atlantis is to descend into the Southern Ocean and begin and execute construction of a geothermal tether."_

"_Until these orders have been carried out completely, all personnel are to remain on high alert, and to maintain arms at all times. No further launches are authorized unless given explicit consent by myself or Captain Talia. All Department Heads and Section Chiefs are to meet in the Council Chambers in 1 hour. Supreme Commander Out." _Harry closed the com channel and left the Command Chair. The entire Bridge crew were standing at attention, somewhat worried by the announcement their Supreme Commander, and Emperor, had just made.

"Supreme Commander, what is the cause for alarm?," Talia asked as she approached Harry. "Can you not _feel_ it Talia? You are more intimately connected with Atlantis than a normal human, yet I discovered it by running a few programs that wouldn't normally be ran simultaneously." Scrunching her face in confusion, she responded, "I'm sorry Sir all systems reported optimal performance and no alarms have been raised while we've been connected to the Atlantis AI via neural interface. What have you found."

Harry motioned for his security detail to join him, and invited Talia to join him as he journeyed to the Supreme Commander's Office down the corridor from the Bridge.

Once clear of the bridge and in corridor, Harry observed the automated defenses of Atlantis begin to activate and emerge from their recesses in the walls of the mighty city. The energy weapons were tracking their movement along the corridor but would not fire as they could easily identify the biological, and technological, signature of an Alterran and HFRs. "Talia, think about it! How many gates were seeded in Pegasus?" Talia slowed in her stride, but resumed her pace once she'd had a moment to process the question. "I'm not sure of the exact number Sir but I understand gateships were ordered to place a porta on each habitable, or resource rich planet, before it would proceed from one galaxy to the next. The seeder ship was to follow shortly thereafter; and it would then upload the information it gathered from each planet into a data-stream which would be shot along the Avalon Network and make its way back into a Repository for later review."

"The databanks provide that there were over 4,000 planets, planetoids, or facilities established or known to the Alterrans over the years which had their own porta. There were thousands of portas deployed in Pegasus;" Talia continued, "but I know that there were fewer there than were deployed in Avalon as the primary home of the Alterrans for so long."

"Exactly Talia! There were supposedly 4,000 sites in this galaxy that were touched with Alterran technology. Dozens of those sites were within the area that have been scanned by the satellite's you've already launched. Some trace should have been left, and on Earth there was no trace of Alterran technology…none." Talia frowned at this information, "Supreme Commander there were no satellites launched toward Earth, how do you know?" "Quite simple Captain, Atlantis' scanners are amazing in their scope and reach. We may be several light years from home, but we are still well within the scope of her sensors. Did no one think to conduct a scan once we began our mining operation?" The Captain shifted nervously, which was quite the feat considering that as a construct she could never experience the emotion, "No Sir. Once Atlantis arrived in orbit of Hadrian's Keep the priority was construction of the potentia platform, mining operations, and the construction of a skeleton crew for the City before a build up for the staffing of a new Fleet. Scans of anything outside of our immediate area were not necessary nor a priority. Once I was created and given command authority, I decided that the satellite network was a priority."

Finally arriving in his office, Harry motioned the Captain to be seated on a sofa in one corner which overlooked the southern pier, as Harry called the area. Lt. Donaldson had opted to maintain watch outside of his office door, and Lt. Arnold took station behind Harry, who was seated in a stately but comfortable chair facing Talia. "Supreme Commander," Talia began, "what did you find that has caused you such great concern? I need time to begin drawing up threat assessments or if it is more pressing designing countermeasures and contingencies to ensure your protection and survival as the last Alterran!" Talia had stood up at some point in her speech, but Harry motioned her to sit again.

"As we've been chatting Captain, I've utilized my neural interface to approve the continuation of drone production and upped the priority on the construction of additional HFRs to staff two battleships, which are being fast tracked on the northeast pier. The eastern pier is now working on the construction of a modified gate ship and seeder ship based on the designs from the city's databanks, which will be used as advance, heavily armed, scout ships that will help get to the bottom of what's going on here in Avalon while we build up strategic military resources and vessels." Harry stood and walked to the floor to ceiling window which overlooked the pier. "I'm concerned Captain, because in the scans I conducted I could detect neither the polar outpost which once served as a primary defense for Earth, nor could I find the cave with Moro's projection which awakened my Alterran heritage and triggered the rapid evolution which exponentially increased my magical and genetic potential to surpass even the ancient Alterrans." He turned to face her, "Sometime between Pegasus and arriving at Hadrian's Keep, Earth has changed…I want to know what has happened, and to be prepared should we face a threat, so powerful, they could overcome Alterran cloaks and protections…that's why I activated the Janus files and ordered the construction of specially designed orbital defense platforms which he designed but could never implement."

"Why Janus though Supreme Commander," Talia began, "surely there were better or more thorough designs that were in the databanks that would not require the sheer number you've commissioned for Hadrian's Keep." As a command officer of Atlantis, Talia had been "gifted" with certain knowledge not common to others on the history of the Alterran and Lantean people so that she would be able to better interface with Atlantis and operate the craft to its full potential. Harry walked to a wall mounted replicator and ordered a cold beverage popular during Atlantis' time as the Capitol of the Lantean Empire. "I still have no idea how I arrived on Atlantis Talia, but once I arrived, I was on the control deck and as the control pedestal arose, and my hand made contact with the control node, it's like my magic reacted and merged me with Atlantis. I saw the world of Lantea through Atlantis' sensors, I saw each and every corridor which made up the hallways of the City…I had every scrap of information stored in Atlantis transferred into my brain in a way that has perfectly integrated it and is safe…that's how I was able to gain control of the City without knowing the language of the Alterrans, and how now I can control the fate of the future of my people as Emperor of a yet to be established interstellar empire."

Captain Talia looked astonished at this. "In sifting through the memories I came upon the personal files of Janus, his memory core, and detailed plans for many spectacular and unorthodox technologies that he knew the Lantean orthodoxy would never allow to see the light of day." Harry eased into the chair behind his desk and sipped his drink as he activated several holographic interfaces on the surface of his desk and a projector screen which shown over it. "Look here Talia and see for yourself!" Harry reversed the display so Talia could see it from her vantage point, "The J-C4 Orbital Defense Platform has been designed with fifteen directional pulse canons, ten multi-directional drone launching tubes, multiphasic shielding, a cloak, three tiers of system redundancy, they can function as real-time communication relays, can be converted easily into a Class-III Scout Ship, are powered by an _artificial _quantum singularity by God, and to top it all off: they incorporate a limited matter converter/replicator of Janus' own design that allows for the collection of space particles which are in turn converted into _all_ of the munitions the platform needs."

Talia's eyes grew wide seeing the specifications for the platforms as Harry listed off each one. "Janus not only figured out _how_ to create an artificial singularity based on the Astra Porta, but he also found a way to maintain it and use one as a power source." Talia came to her feet and approached Harry's desk, "Supreme Commander, if there were ever a breach of singularity's containment field, the field would consume the vessel it was contained on, or worse cause the formation of an actual singularity which could expand exponentially in a short amount of time before it eventually collapsed back into itself … That's why the High Council banned this type of research long before Janus' birth." Talia was indeed fearful now. In the Short amount of time that she had been with the Supreme Commander since his announcement, Talia had been updated via her neural link with Atlantis' AI that 50 of these abominations were ten percent completed and had an expected launch time two hours from now. One of the greatest feats of Alterran Engineering and science was that the more something was produced, the easier it would become. Thus by the time the nanites, construction drones, and personnel overseeing the development and launch of the J-C4's had completed half of the compliment Harry ordered, the production time would be down to a quarter or less of the first produced.

Harry smirked at Talia's outburst, and brought up another file; Janus' proof of concept file which contained his secret field tests of a single station which had been placed in orbit of a Wraith hive planet. Tapping a few controls, Harry began playing a, beyond top secret, video file Janus had recorded from inside and outside of the platform.

It started off with a single shot being fired from the platform into the hive which left a 50 meter perfectly round hole were the shot impacted…the shot traveled down nearly 100 meters to the Wraith colony and left a charred, plasma seared, shaft behind it. The ground impacted, and the Wraith effected, simply vaporized. A single shot from one of the energy pulse canons had delivered damage to a vicious enemy, and it was beautiful in its scope.

"Do you want to know the best part of this Talia," Harry enquired. The stunned Captain nodded, "That platform is still fully cloaked." Talia turned sharply to search his face for any trace of deceit. "The cameras used to record this video were fitted with the same multi-phasic shielding as the platform and synced to the platform's harmonic resonance. Janus in effect has managed to shift the platform slightly out of sync with the rest of the universe which led to his later discovery of a means by which to phase shift to an entirely new dimension…an alternate reality if you will."

"But the platform can fire while cloaked…why didn't the Lanteans adopt this technology and defeat the Wraith then?" Talia hesitantly questioned.

"Yes it can, and with it's shields anything not of the same resonance will pass through empty space; as to the second part of your question, the High Council never learned of Janus' experiments, nor could he convince them of his concept…they were tired of war and ready to abandon Pegasus, and Atlantis, to the Wraith. They were sure enough of Atlantis' shields, but did not have the stomach to continue to fight." Harry composed himself before looking back to Captain Talia, and changing his demeanor from the dour shift his explanation had made him undertake. Harry forced a smile as he paused the video, as he wanted to find a specific clip in anticipation of the Captain's next question.

"Even so Sir," Talia frowned at the failings of the Lanteans but made no comment as to it, "that still doesn't alleviate the danger posed by powering the platform with a _Black Hole_ as its power source. It's too risky to mass produce these _things_ Sir!"

"Captain while I encourage you to continue to maintain your level of dedication to what is safe and practical for Atlantis, which is known to you, I would caution you to keep your tone level with me. I know the risks associated with this technology, and had Janus' files not indicated to me that he had ensured a way to minimize the risks, if not outright remove them, I would not have ordered the construction of these platforms. From what I've found Janus found a way to ensure that the singularities were quantum locked within their containment field by slightly shifting the space in/around the singularity to a different plain of reality. He theorized, and subsequently proved, that if the spatial damns should ever break containing a singularity it would merely cause the destruction of the platform as the phase shifting would not collapse until after the singularity had consumed the platform and the backup system powering them. In other words if the singularity were ever to breach it's containment, the AI controlling the platform was to conduct an emergency, instantaneous, "Hard Shift," which would remove the platform from this plane of existence into the void between dimensions where it could explode and cause no damage."

"That Captain," Harry gleefully added, "is why I've ordered the construction of the platforms. They are safe, effective, and deadly." Harry then played the queued clip which was of Janus ordering the destruction of the platform, from a safe distance, after the Wraith on the planet had been neutralized. From the recording device onboard there was just a blinding flash and then nothing, but from the companion devise outside of the platform, there came a great tearing sound, and the platform imploded. The space where the platform had been dimmed in the exact outline of the J-C4, leaving behind a visual "ghost" as the singularity consumed the light within the shields before the walls of reality closed with a tremendous "pop" and closed the breach which had momentarily formed. From start to finish barely 3 seconds had passed.

"There is your proof Captain. Janus estimated that the singularity was a Class IV due to the Naquada and Trinium reactors he was using to power the backup systems and the chain reaction caused by the self-destruct fed into the power converters of the singularity. One of the most dangerous phenomenon in all of creation, and Janus not only created it, he mastered it and has effectively taken the teeth and claws from the tiger. Do you have any further questions?" "No Supreme Commander, I should not have doubted that you would have thoroughly considered all avenues and possibilities before implementing your plan," replied Captain Talia.

Harry smiled, deactivated the projection, and started for the door. "Don't be afraid to keep thinking and planning as you have Captain. I can't think of everything, neither can Atlantis' Guardian. You have my permission, and insistence, that you consider everything I propose carefully, and at least in private, discuss your safety concerns with me. If it is an emergency situation, you are free to question me openly, but not to counteract me. Are we clear?" "Yes Sir." "Good then," Harry motioned her toward the door leading to the hallway that would take them to the meeting Harry had scheduled, "let's be on our way then and you can help explain everything to your crew."

Captain Talia may not have been active for very long, but she had the collective experiences and memories of some of the most decorated officers of the Alterran and Lantean Empires. She expected the unexpected yet her gut feeling, if she was capable of having one, was informing her that the Supreme Commander was going to dazzle, puzzle, excite, and terrify her…it was just the thing needed to begin the reign of a glorious new empire!

***** Two Days Later *****

The J-C4's had all been deployed, Atlantis splashed down as ordered, and the seat of the Altera Nova Empire, at least temporarily, became situated on Hadrian's Keep; the thermal generator/tether was mere hours away from being completed and supplementing Atlantis' power…such would be a welcome change as all of the activity over the past week had put a severe strain on the two potentia that Harry had somehow fully charged by his "merging" with the City. The potentia generating orbital platform had finished charging the first batch of 15, and Atlantis was currently running on full power, with a surplus of 14 potentia, and an additional 60 "blanks" created and ready to make their rounds in the orbital platform. The Aurora ships in production were nearly 40% completed and would require a potentia each to run at full capacity, in addition to the triple redundant power systems and fusion generators that would power critical ship systems.

*****Atlantis' Bridge*****

"Captain Talia, the Defense Grid is ready for activation and Supreme Commander Potter has been notified. He has given the go ahead Captain." The ensign saluted and returned to his duty station. "All right people, listen up! We are about to activate the Janus Defense Grid! I want all stations monitoring your assigned sections. If you see fluctuations beyond those predicted you are to enter the emergency shutdown protocols for your grouping. Are there any questions; if not, then sectors 1-7, 7-10, 11-17, 18-22, and 23-28 begin your startup sequence!" With that the grid began to activate. There were several fluctuations reported, all within parameters, and thus Hadrian's Keep became one of the most lethally secured planets in the galaxy.

"So good so far, now on my mark begin transferring your sections to Ensign Roger's control terminal, same groupings and timing as activation. … Begin." "1-7 transferred," confirmed Ensign Rogers, "7-10 transferred, 11-17 confirmed, 18-22 confirmed, 23-28 completed. Captain Talia Sir, all transfers confirmed. All groupings and sections have been successfully transferred to Atlantis' main defense console." "Good news indeed Rogers; return to your assigned duties. I want hourly reports on the operational readiness, and power reports, of the JDG for the next 48 hours." "Yes Sir," with that Ensign Rogers returned to his duty station and began inputting the commands that would allow for the monitoring, and report generation, which the Captain had ordered.

A light began to flash from the console attached to the command chair. Seeing that it was a neural relay message from Harry, Talia answered and processed the information Harry had sent.

"New orders from the Supreme Commander. Open a com channel to the Western Pier." "Channel open Captain," replied the sergeant in charge of communications. "This is Captain Talia, on behalf of the Supreme Commander to Western Pier Team Beta. Acknowledge."

"This is Lieutenant Commander Drax, Acknowledged Bridge. How can we help you today?"

"Lt. Drax, you are to re-purpose your pier to finish the production and deployment of the social satellites. How many did you manage to store before your pier was re-assigned?" Captain Talia enquired. "We managed to produce and store over 500 before we halted production Captain, we are ready to begin launch and regular production at once. How many did you need Captain?"

"You are to produce them until we have a functional network spanning the entire galaxy Lt., but your immediate orders are to launch a satellite to Earth so that Atlantis can begin actively monitoring the planet. Your secondary objective, once the entire network, and not just the Earth and regional monitors are active, will be to produce four Delta Class Interstellar Communication Nodes and launch them into the void between Avalon and the Ida Galaxy. Acknowledge."

"Acknowledged Captain. You may register a slight power drain from the Bridge Captain, but don't be concerned. We're going to need a few more nanites swarms to carry out these new orders on a manageable time table, as the constructor droids and existing swarms are simply not up to the challenge." Captain Talia nodded in unconscious understanding, "Agreed Lt. but make sure that you have adequate storage space for the nanites; I would hate for any to get loose or damaged." "Yes Sir, Western Pier Beta out!"

"Incoming message from reconnaissance Team Alpha Sir!" "Put it on Main Viewer Sergeant," Talia instructed."

"Hail Atlantis, this is Team Alpha. Acknowledge." "We read you loud and clear, and the channel is secure Team Alpha; you are the first to report back. You may proceed."

"Deep scans and all indications point to Tallo III as never having been populated Sir. There are no signs or indications of the Tallon's nor of the mega-city Byrn ever having existed on their moon Boranous. We've managed to scan all the way to the core of the planet Sir…there's just nothing here aside from rich mineral deposits…and all are intact." Captain Talia looked at Alpha leader as he said that, and her eyes narrowed. "What do you mean intact soldier? The Alterrans mined vast quantities of materials from Tallo before we abandoned it hundreds of thousands of years ago. The have been no significant astrological impacts known which could have replenished the planets stores. Have you double checked your scans?" "Sir," the officer began, "we have conducted first hand checks of all known and possible mining locations. There are no isotopes on Tallo which would have been released based on the Tallon style of fusion technology used in mining or military equipment in our databanks. The planet is intact and virgin Sir.; there are no humanoids present."

Beginning to pace, as was rapidly becoming her custom, Captain Talia focused on several possibilities and implications based on the information Team Alpha had just supplied her. "Acknowledged Team Leader. Prepare to receive new orders; stand by." Talia, utilizing her neural interface, consulted several star charts from Atlantis' databanks before making her decision as to Team Alpha's new orders. "Right then, Team Alpha you are to break communications silence with the remaining teams and transmit the following orders: Return to Atlantis, stealthily, but immediately. I want full range passive scanning of every system each team pass' through. If you detect humanoid, or intelligent, life on another planet along your route back you are to make note of it in your log, especially the location, but you are not to investigate. Acknowledge." There was a moment's pause as the Team Leader turned to the bridge crew of his stealth craft and relayed the new orders, and instructed his coms officer to relay Talia's instructions to the other teams. "Acknowledged and executed Atlantis. Team Alpha out; orbit is broken, FTL engaged, passive scans reporting. ETA to Atlantis 3 days. Acknowledge."

"Acknowledged Alpha, I expect your report on Tallo III by the time you arrive. Atlantis Out," with that the image of Team Alpha was removed from the view screen, and Captain Talia returned to the Command Chair.

*****Supreme Commander's Office*****

While Talia was so capably ensuring the safe activation of the JDN, and dealing with everything the Captain of Atlantis has to deal with, Harry sat in his office pouring over files which he'd not had the time to properly examine while Atlantis was in the Pegasus galaxy, or since arriving at Hadrian's Keep.

_This Moros fellow was a crafty ol' bugger_,Harry thought. _If this design is half as brilliant as I think it is, I'll be able to solve two Atlantis sized problems with one dozen or so nanites swarms._ Harry was examining plans Moros had saved in his private database on Atlantis for a construction ship, of similar size and design to Atlantis, who's only purpose was to create, fabricate, build, and develop. Harry had seen variations on the Atlantis design, but this was simply beautiful. It was utilitarian in its purpose, but no less vast or grand than Atlantis in its scope. Making up his mind, Harry contacted Northern Pier, Team Alpha, and instructed them to immediately begin construction of an orbital dry dock capable of Atlantis class projects.

"What's a realistic estimate on time until we'll be able to begin producing vessels from this dock Lt. Commander," Harry asked. "It depends on the project Supreme Commander. Once we complete one section of the dock we'll be able to undertake the construction of six Avalon Class Dreadnaughts and Four Aurora Class Battleships, or One Avalon Class CityShip."

"Lt. I'm sending through design specs for a new class of ship, which is a variant of the Atlantis Class. I want to know how long it would take to build. Confirm Receipt." Harry waited a few seconds, and then got the confirmation he needed. "Data pack has been received Sir, I'm looking it over now." A few moments passed as Harry observed the Lt. Commander performing several functions at his workstation as he attempted to answer Harry's question.

"Sir, based on the specs you've sent, the system requirements, and the necessary crew compliment, not including time estimates on how long it would take to mine and refine enough materials to fully stock this vessel, I would estimate that it would take at least a month of continuous work, and 2,000 specially programmed HFRs to build the specialty systems and optimally crew it Sir. Dedicating all of Northern Pier's capacity to forming the HFRs and constructing the orbital docs would take anywhere from three weeks to a Month Sir, and that's pushing it."

"I see," began Harry. "Do you currently have the materials to begin the making of the orbital docs?" "We have enough materials right now to build a one section/dock of an Alterran Standard Orbital Dock. It wouldn't be hard to power, staff, and begin construction from this one section on the design you requested; but I can't begin construction on the dock until I've replicated and programmed at least a dozen swarms of construction nanites, half the requisite HFRs, and a least 100 additional construction droids to the compliment I already have. That work load alone is going to take the remainder of this week unless I can poach from other piers, or non-vital systems."

"Lt. I've received reports that the ISS Albus and the ISS Severus will be launched in another three days, have you followed the status updates?" "Aye Sir I have." "Good," began Harry, "because you can poach your needed help from that pier once they've launched; I'm sending orders for that Commander to report to you once the ships have launched, see that you instruct him of the importance of completing this dock so we can immediately begin production of this new CityShip." "Acknowledged Supreme Commander," the officer saluted, then took a breath before continuing, "What is this new vessel's class designation Sir? As Supreme Commander, and Emperor, you get to choose the designation."

Harry smiled and sat a little straighter in his chair before answering, "We're going to go with the name Moros chose…I think it's perfect for that class of specialized vessels."

The Lt. Commander looked back through the files Harry sent him, seeking to discern the designation Moros had made for this ship thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of years ago. "Alright Sir, construction of the first 'Camelot' Class CityShip, the ISS Camelot, will begin within the next two months; we should have the first section of the "penta-flake" orbital dry-dock within two weeks once we have the other construction crews off the Albus and Severus to help." "Excellent Lt.! Potter out."

_It's all coming together_, Harry thought_, now I just need to find out why things are so…weird. We'll soon have two fully staffed and operational Battleships to patrol this system, which will greatly reduce my anxiety levels. Now if only I could figure out what in the Hell caused the power fluctuations and trouble we had in the void I'll be a happy Emperor._ Harry smirked a bit and allowed himself to enjoy the _privilege_ of his office for a moment. … a nap was definitely in order. _Sometimes_, Harry thought, _it's good to be the "king."_

**Harry Potter: Humanity's Last Hope**

General Jack O'Neil sat at his desk, his hands steeped in a familiar formation he'd not used outside of his Childhood. _Our Father, who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil; for thine is the Kingdom, the power, and the Glory. Forever and ever. Amen._ Signing the Cross to finish the prayer, Jack continued, _I've not spoken to you in years God…I've not really had much use for you since you took my son from me; but where have you been? The world's gone to shit and I'm not talking about the undead fleshbags so lovingly massing at the base of my facility…why, in the name of all that is Holy, would you have allowed the Russians to launch their arsenal? Don't get me wrong Father, I'm very glad they reprogramed their targets from America, but there were so many people in Eurasia that are now gone…even more will follow once the radiation sets in. _Getting frustrated at the futility of his prayer, Jack pushed back from his desk and went to the center of his shrine, where the picture of his son hung distinct and apart from the men and women in military regalia. _At least he didn't live to see what the world's come to._ _At least he won't live to see that monsters are real, and that they used to be people._ Disgusted with himself, and even more for an absent or uncaring deity, the General retired for the night.

*****Cheyenne Mountain*****

"Topside" of the Cheyenne Mountain complex consisted of the Mountain itself, a huge door whose thickness was better measured in meters than inches, and several perimeter fences. Several dozen strategically placed cameras were watching the perimeter, live, and tracking the movements of the living dead as they shambled about. When the plague had first been discovered, the militaries of the world were the first to realize the danger, Cheyenne and all essential personnel were called to duty, tons of supplies and resources which could last the facility years if needed, and select vital civilian operatives and their families, were sealed beneath the protections the mountain and the blast proof doors had to offer.

When the government had collapsed, desperate townspeople swarmed the gates, and overcame the token defenses left behind, in a futile attempt to breach the impregnable security and safety which the Mighty Mountain facility provided. Not even the air could breach the facility's defenses. Aside from salvaging cold fusion tech from the Egyptian site, some very interesting, and increasingly beneficial, systems had been reverse engineered and implemented in the base. Of the systems put to use thus far, extremely powerful and manageable CO2 scrubbers were placed throughout the base which completely recycled the air on each level. Each floor of the massive facility could be completely sealed off from the other now, and placed into lockdown, and not only could each level power itself, but it could also provide an indefinite supply of clean air.

Captain Carter and her team had managed to also reverse engineer an energy based weapon, which could be powered by a micro-reactor, or alternatively given a rechargeable ammunition pack that would fire up to 150 shots. She'd managed to get the design down to a hand held version, very similar to what the actor's on Star Trek used, that was vaguely shaped like a pistol, but had very scarce resources from which to make the micro reactor…at present she'd only been able to produce 5 sustainable fire pulse guns, and about 15 of the rechargeable variant. She'd been able to collaborate with '51 on the project, years ago, and they'd been able to devise a means of battery production using terrestrial materials. She was lucky in that she had 60 additional, and fully charged, battery packs ready to be put into service.

In the security office, the desk sergeant, Michael Winston, watched the monitors carefully. Occasionally the motion sensors at the blast door would be tripped by walkers, or deer, and he would be subjected to the scenes of utter carnage and destruction which lay topside. Occasionally vehicles would approach the outer perimeter gate, and sometimes people would step into the security officer's shack in a desperate attempt to raise _anyone_ on the phone or radio inside, but it had been weeks since anyone had even approached the gates. The horde of undead had swarmed the mountain, but had since moved on. He'd followed their progress on General O'Neil's orders and maintained an alert watch as to where the largest masses were in case the base had to be evacuated for some strange reason. Linking in with one of the satellites dedicated to Cheyenne's security and National Defense, Sergeant Winston began checking several "strategic resources" and areas as designated by General O'Neil. After seeing nothing had changed at '51 since he'd checked in the last hour, he proceeded on to check the Naval base at Pearl Harbor. The last he'd heard Hawaii had been able to shut lock down the island in quarantine fairly quickly. The Pacific fleet had deployed in a blockade of the island, and the Governor had declared martial law.

It had been strange and quite upsetting, at the time, to see airplanes ordered shot down as they approached the island. More than 130 small private to large commercial aircraft has been blown out of the sky hundreds of miles before coming close to the islands. As it was, the Governor had ordered most of the lands seized and converted into farm lands. Governor Abercrombie was a very wise man who understood that the soldiers and citizens would need food, which they could no longer import.

Fishermen and Farmers became highly sought after for marriage as they also became the most "affluent" members of the now closed society…but that was thousands of miles away from Sergeant Winston. General O'Neil was due to call Admiral Minitz, of the Pacific Fleet, who'd managed to escape the fall of Washington and make it back to the Pacific before the government collapsed. Apparently he was doing his best to emulate Generals O'Neil and Hammond…he was maintaining moral as best he could in the face of the reality he lived.

The secure satcom began to ring, which was highly unusual these days, as the established protocol indicated that no one but Cheyenne had access to its services.

"Security; Sergeant Winston speaking," the line was silent for a moment before a few clicks were heard. "Seaman First Class Pettiworth on orders of Admiral Hawthorn for General O'Neil Priority Communique. Authorization Cobra Zulu 76." Winston checked his security codes General O'Neil had given him to confirm who he was speaking with. That security code was verified as belonging to Rear Admiral Hawthorn. "Authorization confirmed Seaman, give me a minute to wake the General and get you patched through." "Please double time it Sir; something's happened and it's bad." Deciding that the situation merited the likely dressing down he'd receive from O'Neil, Winston activated the base alarms which would see O'Neil awakened and moved to his strategic command center, stratcom, where he could receive the call. "I'm patching you through to stratcom now sailor, but General O'Neil isn't there yet. The Duty Officer will answer and hold for the General." "Acknowledged Cheyenne."

Alarms started blaring throughout the base, colored lights activated, and an exhausted General Jack O'Neil was not a happy camper. "For Christ's sake, it's been three hours," looking up toward the heavens he swore again, "can't we catch a break down here." Ignoring his uniform he left for stratcom in his sweats and Air Force tee. Once he was seated, a duty officer flipped a switch on his control panel and the phone light next to the general started blinking indicating a call. "General O'Neil Sir!," saluted the duty officer, "Sorry to wake you Sir, but there is a priority one call from Rear Admiral Hawthorne for you Sir…it's urgent." "I see…can someone please kill that damn alarm," Jack angrily asked in his hazy state.

"O'Neil, authorization Zulu Bravo, 5553," Jack spoke his distinct authorization code that was only known to the surviving network of Brass that were attempting to maintain some semblance of order, and take the fight where it belonged…with the abominations. "O'Neil, this is Hawthorne, We've been under attack by Russian subs Jack! They demanded we allow them through the blockade, and attempted to make a run of it! We engaged them with depth charges, and they responded by launching FAE's at Honolulu!" _Fuck it all!_ Jack thought to himself, "Alright Hawthorne, how bad is it? Do you have any ships left? Is Hawaii still secure?"

Hawaii was of vital importance as it had become a backup site for the biological examination of the virus. Deep within the military base on the island, under redundant isolation protocols, scientists were working in conjunction with '51 in an attempt to develop an inoculation to the virus…and they had made progress. Damn those Russian bastards!

"Jack, it's bad…I've lost three cruisers from my grouping, and we've lost the G.H.W.B.….," Admiral Hawthorne trailed off and Jack held his breath. The George Herbert Walker Bush was a nuclear powered Air Craft Carrier…one of the largest in the Navy, and likely the world; it had also been Admiral Mintz's flagship after the collapse. "Well fuck then Admiral. Look's like you're in charge of the Pacific Fleet and the United States Navy now. Is the threat contained?"

Sensing a change in Jack's tone, the Admiral put on his game face and responded, "Aye Sir. We detected a total of four submarines, and have confirm killed three of them; one was injured and limping as it retreated, suspected lost. Civilian casualties are massive. Governor Abercrombie has ordered the severely injured be executed in order to conserve resources. God damn it Jack, the civi's are losing their minds…don't tell me I'm supposed to stand by as thousands of people are summarily executed!" "Admiral, you have no choice. As it stands, your priority is maintaining the operation of the research base and ensuring that the scientists have an honest chance at producing an inoculative agent. Regroup, and re-deploy Admiral. I will do my best to get into touch with the Governor and attempt to talk some sense into him. He has limited resources and God knows we don't have the numbers to deal with a civilian uprising." Jack paused for a few moments.

"Admiral I want you to monitor the situation, and if necessary send in reinforcements to the base. As you regroup and redeploy your forces, keep a lookout for other renegades. Others are bound to know we've managed to contain the islands isolation, and they may attempt to pick off civilian trawlers in an effort to starve us out or provoke an engagement. Keep me updated Admiral….have you been briefed on the situation at '51?" Jack was hoping to God he wouldn't have to explain the situation with the President, nor the fact that it was very likely the _last_ President of the United States of America was succumbing the virus which had plagued the world. Jack heard activity in the background as the Admiral fumbled with papers. "Yes Jack, I'm aware of everything that's going on. I've ordered our flags be lowered to half-mast until we hear more. Michelle and I grew up in the same neighborhood, and I was fairly close with Barry when he was in the state senate; she's was given a secure line to me after he was diagnosed."

Jack didn't know what else to say to that…there was nothing he really could say.

"Admiral, I've spoken with General Hammond, and the President before he was quarantined… we were given clearance to activate and utilize our ICBMs if necessary in defense of the areas making progress on viral research. If you sense you are about to be overwhelmed, draw the fire away from the islands, and let me know. Only as a last resort are we going to launch though, and your strategic assets are to remain as a last resort as well. Are we clear Admiral?" Knowing that being on the front lines, as it were, and succumbing to the stress of the times was a real possibility for the Admiral. "I read you Jack; we're cleaning up here, and Hammond is my next call. Hawthorne out." Jack hung up, and knowing he wasn't going to get any sleep, decided he would go on a walk around the base, and thank Sergeant Winston for the wonderful wake-up call he'd received.

**Harry Potter: Humanity's Last Hope**

*****Hadrian's Keep*****

The first segment of the orbital dry dock had been completed some time ago, and the ISS Camelot was well underway; in fact it was nearing completion. Half of the ship's total staff had been created and moved aboard from Atlantis, and the addition of their efforts had halved the production time. Alterran nanites were many things, but damn fast was one of the best features that they had. The Constructor droids that were responsible installing the systems were being outpaced by the nanites swarms, but once the superstructure had been made it was just a matter of turning their focus inward and reprograming them…damn they were a versatile tool to have.

Harry was smiling as he overlooked the progress reports on the development of the Camelot, as well the ISS Forge, as he had decided to name the dry-dock. In total, three of the five docks were completed and now operational, Dock Gama had just come online a little over 10 hours previous.

_Now that we have three docks ready to go, I can begin to order the production of a complete Alterra Nova battle group. _In his talks with Captain Talia, and a few of the department chiefs, he'd decided that an Alterran Battle Group would consists of ten Aurora Class Battleships, Four Dreadnaughts, six light cruisers, and one heavily armed and reinforced Communication/Command ship. With Alterran AI being the most sophisticated in the universe, these battle groups could be staffed with a minimal number of HFRs, as the computers would be more than capable of operating on their own and effectively carrying out orders. Harry turned his attention to the report's he'd had verified weeks ago … yet still couldn't wrap his head around the findings.

After pouring over the system checks, the original specs for Atlantis, and investigating each and every deviation found, they had discovered a modification to one of the central control nodes, which could be traced back to Janus. The modifications to the node led to a section of the city which Janus had claimed for his own, and had done his best to scrub from the active memory banks of the computer core…but not from the blueprints. Inside one of the, many, laboratories that Janus had set up the investigative team, led by Harry, discovered a device unlike anything known to the databanks. After carefully checking over Janus' personal, and highly encrypted logs, Harry was able to discover that the device was a highly advanced and refined result of Janus' development of the J-C4. The device was able to punch a hole in reality and phase shift to another… taking along whatever it was attached to. Needless to say, this had caused quite the uproar once discovered; especially when the inconsistencies they were experiencing started to add up.

The best theory, so far, was that when Harry did whatever he did to charge the potentia when he arrived on Atlantis, he somehow activated the device which initiated a delayed countdown, and while in the void the device activated. Because there were no serious deviations from Atlantis' systems, or a threat posed to the safety of the City, the Atlantis AI had continued on its course…after it made sure Harry was ok.

_Another dimension_, Harry thought, _I had not counted on this when I claimed this ancient and majestic city intent on forming a new empire. This could become a major hurtle to overcome or it could be a blessing in disguise. If I'm ever going to be able to make a difference in the magical world and bring harmony back to, my, Avalon perhaps I'll be able to recruit human help from this reality. _Harry was brought out of his musings by a chime ringing indicating someone was trying to communicate with him. Putting the materials he was reviewing away, he activated the appropriate view screen and was surprised to see that it was a low ranking officer, research division, if his uniform was any indication.

"Supreme Commander, pardon the interruption, but Captain Talia has asked that I bring this to your attention immediately as she is coordinating a team to personally verify the information." Harry sat up at that, "proceed."

"Sir we've just received our initial data burst of information from Terra. From all indications Sir, the planet is suffering from some type of calamity. There is no wide scale communication systems in place, most major cities are in ruin, and the native population seems to be in decline Sir…" "Decline how," Harry questioned. "It seems Sir, and we are sending a manned mission to verify this, that a massive war broke out, recently causing wide spread death, destruction, and the complete collapse of civilization. The, few, life signs we have managed to find are sporadic and widespread Sir. We've managed to find a few broadcasts being made on a few continents, primarily North America, as most of Europe and Eurasia have no functional electronic devices due to EMP damage…is our initial suspicion Sir." Harry thought pensively as he viewed the images taken by the satellite they'd sent to Earth. "Have you managed to discern what the broadcasts are saying?" _Figures that the Soviets would find a way to destroy the world_, thought Harry. "Sir, if you will, the message we've been able to record has been included in our report to you, tab 3 on your screen, and it's the same 45 second clip repeating." Harry brought up the clip and began playing it. A man's voice was heard:

"_The virus is transmitted through body fluids, though biting and scratching seems to be the primary means of infection. Avoid cities or densely populated areas, arm yourselves and stay indoors. Stay off of the roads. The armed forces have been deployed to ensure order is maintained. The first symptoms of the virus are high fever and dehydration shortly after exposure. Death, reanimation, and cannibalism follow. There is no cure. Damaging the brain is the most effective means of neutralizing these threats. Conserve your ammunition, and avoid becoming surrounded if you are confronted. Martial Law has been declared, and curfews are in effect. Anyone approaching military checkpoints at night will be shot on sight."_

_Shit,_ thought Harry, _what in the bloody Hell does reanimation mean? Cannibalism follows? What does this mean?_

"Thank you for bringing this to my attention, Potter out." Harry deactivated the com line and began typing a series of commands on his computer to better examine the surface level photographs taken by the satellite; he paid special attention to the photographs that were of the most populous cities in North America, where the broadcast had originated. "Computer, open a com channel to Captain Talia." _"Channel open_," replied the AI. "Captain Talia, I understand you are preparing a mission to investigate Earth and the condition of the peoples there correct?" "Yes Supreme Commander," Captain Talia replied, "we've outfitted a Class II Scout Ship with our best scanning and diagnostic equipment to investigate the goings on of the planet, from orbit, and included 20 Class III probes so that we can begin getting real time video and audio of refugee centers, and select cities, as well as infiltrating the existing computer networks before assessing whether we could send a salvage team to attempt to reactivate the previous world net."

"Correct me if I'm wrong Captain," Harry began, "but can't a Class II shuttle convey up to 20 personnel, comfortably, in addition to the equipment modifications you've made?" "Yes Sir they can," Talia replied before continuing. "We were planning on sending the standard compliment of four, a mission commander, in this instance one with reconnaissance and societal research specialties, an engineer, two science officers, and a security officer." "Is there any way that you could include a portable bio-lab and set it up where the native's wouldn't discover it," Harry asked.

"Supreme Commander, we could include such a portable lab and the necessary staff to operate it, but we are concerned with the possibility of the virus migrating to Atlantis, or effecting the biological systems of HFRs Sir." Talia paused for a moment as she collected her thoughts. "A portable bio-lab comprises 4 independent and self-contained laboratories Sir, with a central control room where experiments are maintained by a crew of up to 12. We could modify the design such that there are no openings or exits to the facility and the only means of entry would be by particle transmission, beaming, into or from Sir…that, in addition to staff wearing bio suits, would provide for our scientists to at least determine if this contagion poses a threat to Alterrans or HFRs."

_There are minimal risks, and we're going to need to learn everything we can about this Earth until we can manage to unlock the secrets of the Janus Devise and return us home. _"Make it so Captain, but I want you to send the Severus with you as an escort. My reports indicate that we will have eight more battleships launching within the next 48 hrs. so this system should be fine. We still don't have a clear understanding of whether this virus is terrestrial in origin or not after all, and until then I want to make sure that we are able to defend our interests and personnel. From now on, whenever we send out a research or scouting mission, I want at least one battleship stationed within the system to provide support if needed."

"I understand Supreme Commander," Talia replied, "and I will change our plans accordingly. It will take approximately one hour for the team and necessary supplies to be assembled, and from there they should be able to establish the bio-lab before day's end. Looking at the bio scans compared to the geography, there is an area of isolated land twelve kilometers from where we have detected active, military grade, electronics on the North American continent, in an area their files say is called "Colorado." If we were to choose this as our base of operations, it would make eventual evacuation or rescue missions much easier…if that is what you allow." Harry thought about everything Talia had just shared with him when a stray thought hit him.

"Talia, if this reality is anything like ours, then there are several dozen nuclear power facilities worldwide which have the potential to go critical if not adequately manned. If no one has been checking in on them for some time, they could go critical and expose our teams to unnecessary risk. I want you to examine the information we've compiled so far and start building teams to neutralize these threats. If the reactors can't be safely operated remotely, I want you to remove the reactive materials and contamination from the facilities and dispose of it." Harry took a moment to consult a file on his computer from the Alterran archives. "These are the design specs for Omega Class Terraform Droids," Harry shared the file with Talia.

"The Ancient Alterrans designed these droids to collect radioactive and toxic materials and transmute it into inert super dense carbon. They also have the ability to terraform vast swaths at a time, and can be used to "clean" the land which these destroyed cities occupy. Take a few with you; you can use them to start cleaning up the wasteland that is Europe." Talia saluted and began, "is there anything else you would like done Supreme Commander? I need to begin implementing these changes immediately if we are going to keep the same launch time as was originally planned." "Nothing else Captain, Potter Out."

***** 12 Km outside of Colorado Springs; 6 hrs. later*****

"Base Command to Atlantis, do you copy?" "This is Atlantis Base Command," came the immediate reply, "we read you loud and clear. Have you assembled the bio-lab and perimeter defenses?" "Affirmative Atlantis, we have secured the base and we are scanning the vicinity to acquire biological samples. Request com channels remain open for review of operations." "Affirmative Base Command, we weren't about to let you have all of the fun. Your com line will be transferred to observation lab two under the command of Lt. Ali'a. You are a go to launch the transport locking probe; happy hunting." With that the team which made up base command began to activate several screens, type commands, and from several thousands of feet above their location, a probe was launched into the vicinity which had the ability to fire isolinear "tags" which would allow for the base to lock on to the signature and transport the tagged subject into a containment cell for their study. In each cell was a restraint bed, which could be operated from the control room, a two way mirrored wall which allowed those in the control room to see inside, an interactive display panel, and a food moleculizer.

"Alright everyone listen up, the probe is going to fly over the immediate area and find us a suitable "reanimated" specimen, a carrier, and a healthy specimen. Your orders are to do molecular scans and viral analysis to determine whether or not this contagion poses a danger to the empire or not. Our secondary mission is to determine whether or not the virus can be contained through planet wide dispersal agent, and finally whether or not the survivors are suitable for evacuation to Hadrian's Keep." Nods of understanding were exchanged between the officers.

"Probe launched, visuals coming in now."

On the screen a town was approaching view as the probe flew over open pasture. A light dusting of snow was starting to fall across the countryside, but the probe had no trouble following the large artificial roadway that the people had constructed as it made its trek into town. Traveling at relatively low speeds, the probe came upon the outskirts of what was, at one time, a highly populated, city. Reaching the center of town the probe began to extend its sensors and began its task of looking for subjects for examination.

Five minutes passed, and though there were masses of undead shambling below, the probe failed to launch a single tag.

"Rena," began the base commander, "find out why the probe isn't launching a tag at any of the specimen down there. I've seen dozens walking around the ruins yet the probe is simply passing them by." On the screen before them the reanimated were walking about, some dragging themselves, in various stages of decay and evisceration. "That is horrendous," came the voice of one of the scientists. "I didn't think it was possible to survive such a level of desiccation…look at the skin on that one, it's completely rotten off!" "Commander, we've got a problem," came the voice of the security officer; scams are not registering these creatures…that's why the tags haven't deployed yet. The computer is designed to scan for life signs and these _things_ have none. I'm barely detecting low level delta waves coming from their brain."

"Can we compensate to scan for these delta waves…wait, if that's the case we could be sitting in a nest of these things and wouldn't know it?" "That's right commander, and yes we can. Until I can devise an algorithm for the identification of these creatures though, we're going to have to rely on manual targeting for the tags, and motion detection for perimeter security. Again though I want to remind all of you that no one is authorized for planet side contact on this mission. We are limited to conducting research from this facility _only_." With that the security officer dove into his work at his duty station, and began conferencing with the security chief of the Severus alerting them to the situation and seeking the assistance of their engineers on finding a solution to their scanning deficiencies.

"Yes, well, activate manual targeting, and bring me a sample. We've got work to do and I'd like to have it done some time this century," stated the commander. Returning to his command chair he activated the main viewer and linked it to the probe's visual receptors. "Do we have audio with this probe?" without answering one of the scientists activated the audio feed. As the probe was flying at less than 30 feet from ground level the sounds of the creatures were quite apparent. Low moans, grunts, and the occasional sound of dragging…appendages…were heard. "Have any of you found non-infected yet?" There were answers of negative to the commander's question. Before the commander could acknowledge their replies though, a scream was heard over the com link.

"Isolate and move the probe to intercept," the commander blurted. Each duty station flew into a flurry of action, and the main view screen quickly shifted from the fronts of burned out buildings to an area three streets over where a middle aged woman and man plus their two children were attempting to escape from a grouping of fourteen infected. "Analysis!"

"Two carriers, two non, and fourteen infected Sir," came the reply. "I want the non-infect tagged and placed in isolation immediately, followed by the carriers, and I want one of each gender of the infected. Execute." A chorus of "aye Sir" met the commander's instructions. As each isolation room though only had one restraint bed, the security officer was having to work quickly to replicate the needed number for each cell so that each specimen would be properly restrained and isolated. "Keep an eye on those people. If they don't outrun the infected, beam them all to the outskirts of this facility to buy more time if necessary." "Commander," began the security officer, "the computer has completed replicating the additional beds and configuring the cells for their placement. We are ready for extraction."

"Make it so," screamed the commander as family made a blind turn down a dead end ally. From the audio continuing to play the woman's screaming to be heard, as well as the children's crying, and the man's swearing as he lamented losing his "gun." The probe shimmered into being just ahead of the horde of undead, as it dropped its cloak, and fired four shots in succession that impacted at various points on each of the living, that would cause no lasting harm. On impact each individual was transported to a pre-assigned bed in the cell appropriate to their condition. The little boy and his mother, were transmitted to the carriers cell, while the other two were transported to the non-infected cell. The probe reversed its orientation, and with the scientist manually targeting, tagged a male and female of the infected before shimmering out of existence, and continuing its audio and video surveillance of the town.

The family shimmered into their restraint beds peacefully and without fuss as the tags contained a dosing of a powerful, but safe, sleeping agent. Predictably though, the infected remained conscious, if you could call it that, as their circulatory system which would have delivered the agent, and which would have been rapidly spread in the mater transfer process, was not operating. Upon arrival, the base computer began a series of preprogrammed and extremely detailed scans of all test subjects. Everything from brain wave scans to gene sequencings were going on simultaneously…and the information being collected was _fascinating_.

"Commander look at this," came the excited uttering of one of the scientists, "the virus itself seems to be a corruption of a t-cell which first attacks the lymphatic system, shutting down the nervous system, and finally climbing the spinal column to attack the brainstem. "The scans of the infected show that select portions of the brain are semi-active, while other parts are completely dead," began the second scientist. "Scans indicated that their audio and smell receptors have been heightened somehow…but visual acuity and activity is highly diminished." The male infected fought against his restraints to the point of pulling against them so hard that all of the flesh on his wrists and hands slid off and "he" was able to sit up on the table…but his legs were securely in place.

With the male infected escaping part of his restraints, an alarm sounded, red lights began flashing, and the security officer nearly had a coronary. "Security alert Commander," began the security chief, "the male subject has escaped his arm restraints. Security protocols are activating within the room, and he will be stunned unless you order otherwise."

"Cancel the alarm please, we're in no danger….and I'd like to see what will happen if we hit it with a stun blast." "Aye Sir," replied the security chief as the alarms silenced and the lighting returned to normal. A wall panel in the cell recessed and the barrel of a stunning devise entered, trained onto the back of the male subject. It fired one shot, which would render a normal humanoid unconscious for around an hour. No one was prepared for what the main view screen was about to display, as barely a second after impact the specimen's torso completely exploded showering the room in black goo and Haynes comfort fit tee shirt material.

"Report," "What the Hell just happened!," came from the commander and the lead scientist at the same time. "Were we scanning as the impact occurred," questioned the commander. "Aye Sir we were, and it seems as though the impact of an energy based weapon caused the coagulated materials inside the _thing_ to spontaneously combust, which when combined with the fact that it was breaking down into combustible materials anyway…the energy based weapon set of a chain reaction causing his internal gases to ignite Sir." "Is that going to happen anytime we hit one of them," the commander enquired. "Unknown," replied the second scientist. "By all accounts that specimen was in an advanced state of decay Sir. He'd been digesting himself for several weeks if not months. The Female subject seems _fresher_ than the male. I recommend we repeat the experiment on her, or utilize the weapons system on the probe to fully test the possibilities presented by this…situation." "I agree Commander," came the voice of the lead scientist. "I see no harm in shooting as many of these _things_ in the city with varying levels of stun power and seeing what happens. If at all possible though, I'd like to find a male specimen that is in the process of "turning" to replace the specimen we've lost as he was too far gone to learn how to properly combat the virus."

The commander sat in contemplation for a moment as he considered everything he'd just heard. "Permission granted to arm the probe and observe the results of the experiment you've proposed. Permission also granted to find a male subject in the process of becoming one of those things. You may launch as many probes as necessary to find a male subject in this city in the process of turning, and assist the current probe in its field tests…but please keep it reasonable. We don't want to flood Atlantis with too many streams of _too_ much carnage to review. Remember that our primary objective is to learn everything we can about this virus and whether or not it poses a danger to Atlantis. Proceed." With that the commander left his chair and headed to his office to make a personal report of what had been discovered so far to Captain Bri'na of the Severus who would then brief Atlantis.

***** Atlantis Supreme Commander's Office*****

Harry sat at his desk following along with the Earth expedition's progress thanks to the feed being sent from base command to observation lab two. Harry had the Chief of Scientific Operations sitting across from him as the information and video streamed in, and both men shared the same look of worry as the family was discovered and later disgust and horror as the male specimen exploded.

"What do you think Le'ro," asked Harry. "Supreme Commander, I believe that the base commander has operated prudently, and the course of action being undertaken with the probe is prudent. Before we attempt to interact further with these _creatures_ we should have a thorough understanding of how they react to our weaponry. I see no harm in clearing out this city of threats as it will do nothing but ensure that we are able to improve upon our scanning deficiencies in being able to recognize and locate the infected. Perhaps then we will be able to get an accurate could of how many of these things there are and what the population of this planet _used_ to be." Harry nodded his head in agreement. "I don't want to risk our people yet Le'ro, I'm sure you can understand my rational, but how quickly could we sweep the entire city and remove these things, and erect a defensive wall around the perimeter?"

The Chief looked at Harry quizzically before speaking, "you want to build a wall around the city Sir? We've still not been able to determine whether or not the virus poses a threat to our people." "I know," Harry said as he reclined in his chair. "My thoughts were we could isolate this city, completely, and rebuilt it…I mean everything from providing electricity, water, an industrial food distributor, a means of broadcasting its location and then we could begin evacuating the survivors we find to it while we continued with our research."

"That's a very interesting proposal Supreme Commander; were you planning on convening the council to debate the ramifications of these open and obvious actions? From all indications this society has never experienced non-terrestrial life forms, nor are they ready to in their current state. Have you given any thought as to how you would want to design these cities? Utilizing their primitive construction techniques and technologies so much space is going to be wasted. We could easily fit 5-10 million people in an Alterran city of this size if we utilized Alterran technology and designs." Harry steeped his hands in contemplation at the wisdom of Le'ro's words. "Further, if we are going to do this in one area and utilize it as a staging area while we await the results of our scientific research, we're going to need to build multiple of these refuge cities worldwide, and now, so we can save as many lives as possible. To accomplish this we will need to move the Camelot into the system, once it is fully stocked, so that it can provide the materials, support, and means of constructing these cities. It probably wouldn't hurt to go ahead and establish a mining operation of Mars so when the Camelot gets into place it will have a steady stream of materials ready to go."

"But really Sir, I think it wise to try and make first contact with _some_ authority figure first before you attempt to start plucking people from wherever and then telling them that they're going to be safe and the nice aliens will be making everything better. We don't want to be seen as aggressors sir, nor accused of being the cause of this devastation…and to avoid that we will need answers to their questions and they must come from authority figures they would trust. To that end I highly doubt one massive city would be a prudent place for varied cultures to be herded."

"You've given me a lot to think about Le'ro…very sound and sage advice that puts a stopper on action I wanted to take immediately to try and save as many people as possible. Please contact the Privy Council and ask them to meet in chambers in thirty minutes time please. I would like you to be there to go over this file with them, and the advice you've given me. Though it pains me to sit back as millions of people remain at risk, I want others to have an input before I begin a protracted relief effort. You are dismissed." Le'ro stood and saluted…but left in silence; concern etched on his face.

*****Privy Council Chambers*****

"…So that is the basis of the situation ladies and gentlemen," Le'ro concluded. Harry sat silently in a raised chair which sat above all others, observing those assembled before him. He gauged their reactions throughout and most seemed concerned, some disgusted, and thankfully none were disinterested. Twelve Ministries, ranging from Culture to Defense, made up Harry's Privy Council. "Supreme Commander," began the Defense Minister, "I think that Dr. Le'ro was correct in his words of caution to you. Before we begin any type of relief efforts, we should first consult with the existing governments, if any, to ensure that the native population doesn't come to see us as some invading threat. Strategically it would be a mistake to deploy ground forces at this time, as well as it would generate huge casualties to attempt solely orbital bombardments. Under no circumstances should we arm these people with tech more advanced than their current level of development. If you do want to be involved in any way, I think these refuge cities would be an appropriate first step…once we've established native control and oversight. We should not police them or judge them, at this point, Sir. That should only come later."

There were several nods of agreement. "Are you all in agreement then," asked Harry. Seeing no dissent Harry tapped several commands into the console in front of him, and sent a neural command to Atlantis to open a holographic com channel.

The lights in the room dimmed, and a circle of light formed on the floor. From that circle emerged General Jack O'Neil.

"Who the Hell are you people and where the Hell am I," the General sternly demanded.

***To Be Continued***

Your reviews, comments, and opinions are welcome. There is a set direction this story is going in and it likely will not exceed four chapters. I do appreciate all responses.

***Plea for Help***

I could not get this darn site to keep the section headers or spacing that I preferred. If anyone knows how to save these documents so that proper section breaks can be inserted, please let me know. I see them in stories all the time but mine will not save.


	2. Developments

Harry Potter x Stargate Atlantis x The Walking Dead

**Synopsis:** Harry, after discovering Atlantis, accidentally activates Janus' Dimensional Transport & Time Dilation device while en route from Lantea to Earth and triggered both a dimensional shift and a time jump, which rendered him unconscious. He awakens in a star system not too distant from Earth, and finds Atlantis has carried out his last order: to establish a mining operation and the creation of Human Form Replicators, slaved to his orders and the defense of his person and Atlantis.

**Setting:** En Media Res onboard the CityShip Atlantis, planet side on an alternate Earth, and in the Alternate Universe designated AU01.

**Characters:** Harry Potter, Stargate, The Walking Dead, O/C.

**Disclaimer:** No profit is sought, or accepted, in the publication of this fanfiction. It is purely being written and shared for enjoyment; no remunerations are accepted or expected by the author. All right, privileges, and copyrights belong to their respective holders/owners. I freely admit to having been on a Harry Potter x Stargate kick the last few months, and will try to give special thanks to authors who inspired me on my bio page. Until then, however, if you see something similar too another author of this genre, please point it out to me and I will check my notes as to whether or not I could have accidentally modeled my characters, names, places, events after another.

I freely admit that my Captain Talia is named after a Aurora Class ship I read of in several fics, but can't recall who, (if you know what I'm talking about please link me to the story), and want to give that author credit for the name. I will when I find out who that author was, either by editing this chapter or noting later on.

Please enjoy and review with your comments, critiques.

**Chapter 02: Meanderings**

***Previously***

_The lights in the room dimmed, and a circle of light formed on the floor. From that circle emerged General Jack O'Neil. _

"_Who the Hell are you people and where the Hell am I," the General sternly demanded._

* * *

><p>"I will ask one more time," Jack began, "who are you people and where am I? How have you breached our security? Where are my team members? I will bring this mountain down on your heads if you so much as touched a hair on their <strong>fucking heads<strong>!" General O'Neill threatened and damn well meant it.

Harry consulted the panel nearest him, and pulled up the information the satellite had been able to retrieve on their point of contact. "Greetings Lt. General O'Neill of the United States Air Force, Planted Earth. You are physically safe in your quarters inside Cheyenne Mountain, but we have projected your conscious mind to our presence, and given you holographic form. We wished to speak with you privately, as overtly attempting to contact you through your communications channels and devices could have caused you problems…we don't wish to cause you any more stress than you are already under General. Of that you have my word," Harry started.

"That's all nice and good whoever you are, but seriously…fuck you if you think I'm stupid enough to fall for some shit explanation like that? Where the Hell am I? Let me guess, I'm on a fucking space craft and you're E-Fuckity-T calling me home?" The General said with as much sarcasm as he could muster. "General, I need you to calm down and relax. We are here to offer you our assistance, but if you are not presently inclined to accept or believe us, please tell us what it will take for you to believe we mean you no harm and only wish to help."

General O'Neill, now believing this was a convoluted dream his subconscious had foisted on him from all the shit he'd had to deal with in his life, paused to think. "You know I've had some messed up dreams before, especially since Charlie died…God damnit why is my brain doing this to me now of all times?! …. Alright, subconscious of mine, if you want to play a game I'm down so long as I can get to sleep and forget this shit in the morning. The President of these United States is infected and in the process of turning. Best estimates are that he will last another week; even with '51 doing everything they can and every serum they try is only postponing the inevitable….go save him." Jack stood there in stoic silence, wishing this dream would end so he could finally rest and prepare for another day of living in Hell.

"You would speak with us," Harry began, "if we were to save one man? You would ask for something so _small_ when you could have asked we encase your mountain in a protective dome so that you could once more venture forth and see your sun," Harry sighed at the foolishness, or loyalty, of this man. "We are still trying to understand this virus ourselves General, but we will make it a priority to save this President of yours. You will hear from us again in a week's time to know whether or not we've made any progress on your President. Good night General."

Harry ended the transmission and turned to his Privy Counsel. "Well….that could have gone better. Thoughts?"

The Defense Minister began. "Supreme Commander, if I may begin, all things considered I believe he handled it fairly well. It was entirely predictable, considering his and his planet's circumstances, for him to believe he was dreaming. He's never even considered the possibility of technology such as ours, and this may result in a benefit for us. He's given us a task, one which would benefit us anyway as we will get to study the progress of the virus and compare it's behavior on humans with yourself Sir…as well as the HFR crew." Around the room heads were nodding.

"My Lord," began his Culture Minister, "after studying their culture, their important documents, and having the satellite download several historical artifacts contained in his government's archives…I am convinced that saving this "President" person would be a boost of moral for the General and all survivors." The Minister sighed and rubbed his forehead. "I think having him alive and able to broadcast about us, if we can save him, would be highly beneficial to us."

_He has a point_, Harry thought. _Growing up the Dursley's may not have done much for me, but they did raise me as a nationalist. God if I were in their position I would desperately be holding out for the PM to make things right. _"From my own experience Ministers, trusted government officials are a means of comfort and an obvious indication of normalcy. It's not like these people could hurt us, or our interests. Earth is my fixation at the moment, but it's not necessarily my priority if we are not welcome. We are carving out territory of our own in this dimension, but we do not have to re-colonize Terra." Heads were nodding in understanding and agreement at the prudence of their Supreme Commander's words. "If we can't find a cure for this virus or an effective means of inoculating this generation from its ravages, and our willingness to build them cities of refuge are rebuffed…we _will_ move on. Thoughts?"

There was silence in the room as no one could come up with a compelling argument to challenge the Supreme Commander's position. "Alright then, if that's all you are dismissed and are to focusing our efforts on treating their President. Get word to Terra Base Camp about their change in mission and their new week deadline. I want Doctor Malcom and a team of his choice to travel to Terra and assist the scientists. We have captives, carriers, and infected yet not a single medical officer on site. The Doctor's orders are simple: Start treating; I want results." With that Harry stood, as did his Council, they saluted him by bringing their arms out front, fists balled, then brought their fists to their heart. Harry inclined his head slightly in acknowledgment and dismissal.

As he was leaving the chamber, he called Lt. Arnold, who was fast becoming an unofficial advisor, to him. "Arnold," Harry began as they exited and turned toward the transports, "I need you to contact Le'ro and have him send me a data cube on Alterran Cloning technology and its compatibility with human physiology and psychology, I want you to personally escort that cube to my office and have it ready for review please. You are dismissed." Arnold, having been given a direct order, slightly bowed and left Harry's side. Lt. Donaldson took Lt. Arnold's place immediately by Harry's side. "A stroll about the City is always good for soothing the nerves Sir; but for security's sake do you have in mind where we were going?" The duo had just exited their transport into the lower levels of the City heading along a path that would take them into the Atlantis archives.

"There are rooms, corridors, levels, and even whole decks of this City that are restricted to myself alone Donaldson; and for good reason. The information, technologies, and secrets contained in them are too important to the Empire to risk their discovery; your positronic matrix and personality programming may be formidable and the most advanced in any universe, but nothing can top the natural defenses and formidable holds of the Alterran brain. Our evolution has made us masters of our bodies, our memories, and allows us certain advantages over, and I say this with no arrogance meant, lesser beings; even those of our own creation." Donaldson reeled at the information he was being given, knowing his existence depended on his secrecy of this.

"I am going to personally search my private archives for information which may be relevant to Terra right now, as well as why we are detecting Portas, but nothing else of the Alterran Empire in this universe. I fear more is at play here than humanity failing to evolve a competent immune system, or nature taking her vengeance for the abuses these humans heaped upon her." They arrived at a nondescript door, but it didn't matter. The AI of Atlantis would make sure Donaldson couldn't remember the route once he left…it was one of the reasons Harry had sent Arnold away. He didn't want to begin tampering with the memories and personality of an unofficial advisor. Donaldson however…he was expendable; as was evidenced by this being the second time Harry had needed to give this speech to him.

"My Lord," Donaldson began, "I will keep watch by the door and ensure you are not disturbed." Harry nodded and entered the physical archive for the second time in as many weeks. _Lovely_, thought Harry. _Ancient High Alterran is a bitch to read on a screen….it's going to be soooo much fun reading someone's scratching's for the next few hours trying to find what I'm remembering. _

* * *

><p>*****Colorado Springs Base Camp (Same Time)*****<p>

"Affirmative Atlantis, Base Command out." The commander turned from the view screen in his office and began running his hand through his hair, it was a nervous tick; a sign of the personality he'd been programmed with. _I need to open the East Wing of the lab and prep it to receive Dr. Malcom and his staff. _"Computer," a chirp of acknowledgment was heard, "please prepare the East Wing for the immediate arrival of the Alterran Chief of Medical Sciences, and a team of 10 of his specialists. The manifest and supply demands are within the communique I've just received from Atlantis. Please begin replicating their equipment and configuring their quarters immediately." _Affirmative_, replied the non-descript computer's voice. _Dimensional compression commencing, space expansion cylinders engaged; technological synthesis underway. _"Acknowledged Computer. What is the estimated time of completion?" _Completion in approximately 30 minutes._ There were no further commands to the computer, or information provided by it. Alterran technology was a true wonder.

Opening a data line to the Command Center, the commander began reviewing the vitals and statistics of their current "guests," as well as his team's observations on them. Noting that the Carriers metabolic rates were slightly elevated, he opened a tab showing a holographic scan of their bodies, sans clothing. Typing a command which caused the bodies to rotate slowly so he could inspect them for physical damage, the commander paused on the boy's torso and the mother's left calf. It looked like … a chunk of flesh had been removed from the both of them. They boy's injury wasn't nearly as severe as the mother's…but there was no doubt about it…both of them had been victims of an attack by the infected.

Scans indicated that the wounds were highly infected, and that the infection was slowly, but surely, spreading. It was spreading even in the presence of the Alterran Sedative….which wasn't really that surprising. Opening a com line to the science station of the Command Center the commander began, "Alpha Lead to Science Officers. Respond."

"Go ahead commander," came the reply.

"New orders from Atlantis. We are going to receive a data burst containing the name, location, and information of a carrier male in the process of changing. We are to do everything we can to prevent his turning. The subjected we currently have are to continue to be used for research purposes. Have you made all the scans of value on the infected we've captured?"

"Pretty much commander. We've performed every scan we can think of, and then some. We've got tissue samples running in the gene sequencers, and in all honesty when you combine this with the scans and samples we've taken of the other subjects, we will be in good shape … until we hit a roadblock."

"I see," replied the commander. "I want four stasis tubes synthesized and the living subjects placed inside. Please vaporize the infected and sterilize the cell before you prep it for the arrival of the male carrier we will be focusing on. Dr. Malcom and his team should be here in the next ten to fifteen minutes. Are there any questions?" There were none. "Alpha Lead out," and with that the com line ended.

*****Atlantis Departure Dock Delta Four*****

An attendant with a data pad approached Dr. Malcom and began speaking to him before he could embark onto his ship and leave Atlantis for Terra. "Is that all you need Dr. Malcom? I've received a report from Terra Base Command that they've set up the East Wing of the Bio-Lab to meet your needs. Your transport will keep all of your specialized equipment that can't fit in the bio-lab, and there will more than enough room for your staff to live and work. Your ship is to maintain a 45,000 ft., vertical, distance at minimum from the lab unless circumstances dictate otherwise. As a Senior Minister of the Empire you will assume overall command of the mission and report directly to the Emperor, though Alpha Leader will retain responsibility and control over base protocols and security measures." The attendant paused to ensure he had read his directives for the good Doctor correctly. "Are there any questions Sir?"

"I think I got all that Ensign. If you would please allow me to board now, we're running slightly behind schedule." The Ensign saluted and the Doctor followed, before boarding the ISS Mercy…a gift from the Emperor to the office of the Alterran Chief of Medical Sciences. It was a modified Class II Scout Ship. The Ship was fast, relatively small, well armed, easy to handle, but it had enough space to provide the very best of Alterran Medicine on the go. The Supreme Commander had made mention of Doctors making "house calls" being a tradition he wanted the Alterrans to continue. Harry had just chuckled and walked away at the doctor's perplexing at the phrase.

As Doctor Malcom made his way onboard he was met by his Chief of Staff, Doctor Werner, as he approached the Bridge. "Doctor Malcom, all staff reporting and accounted for. All of our requested equipment has been synthesized and placed in the appropriate labs onboard. Terra Base Command has also confirmed that the modifications to their facility have been completed and your personal quarters and laboratory are up and running. We are waiting for you to assume command and give the orders Sir." Doctor Malcom nodded and proceeded to the command chair, sat down, and allowed his neural interface to link with the Mercy's AI. He established his command over the ship, laid in a course, and opened a ship wide com channel.

"_Now hear this! This is Doctor Malcom, Alterran Chief of Medical Sciences and Commander of this vessel. All hands to their duty stations. We are about to enter into an extremely alien environment where venturing from the safety of our ship could pose a threat to the Empire, or our own biological based systems. For that reason, while underway, I want each member of the crew to done an environmental protection suit which you are to wear at all times at base command, or inside our biohazard labs onboard the Mercy. Each bio filter, screening station, and entrance/exit to research facilities containing viral samples or those who have been in contact with them, must go through level one decontamination and cleansing procedures before you may remove your protective wear and return to your quarters or common areas of the Ship. Team Alpha is charged with processing the data and information that our science officers have procured so far and running simulations as to possible treatments at each stage of the virus. Team Beta, you are charged with live experimentation of possible treatments once cleared by Team Alpha and myself. Team Epsilon you are to prepare for the arrival of patient "0" codename "P-Rez," and begin stabilizing him in conjunction with Teams Alpha and Beta."_

_I have informed Terra Base Command that we will be picking up  
>"P-Rez" and will be delivering him to their care in stasis. Team Gamma…you have your orders, equipment, and goals. You are to keep your research separate and apart from the other teams and report your findings and observations, daily, to the Supreme Commander. We will arrive at Terra in one half hour. You have your orders. We are now underway." <em>

With that, the ship released its docking clamps, Atlantis released its connections to them, and they slowly started to rise from the surface of Hadrian's Keep. Once clear of the Janus Defense Network, they engaged their sublight engines, and when at an appropriately safe distance, the FTL Drive activated rocketing the medical crew of the ISS Mercy toward a planet desperately in need of the hope that they could inspire…if only the citizens and living knew they were coming though.

*****Cheyenne Mountain 13:30 Hours *****

"General, General O'Neill….please wake up sir, you are needed in the stratcom," came the voice of a nervous Ensign that had been sent to personally wake the Base Commander.

"What time is it Airman," the bleary and disoriented General asked of his subordinate.

"Sir it's 13:30, at there is a development topside that needs your immediate attention Sir."

"Alright, alright…I'm up. I'll be there shortly. Dismissed." _Fucking nightmares. Figures I wouldn't get a minute of sleep. I feel like I've just sat my ASVAB, SATs, and Officer's Battery all at once._ The General was trying to gather himself and his thoughts, but his mind remained sluggish and somewhat jumbled. It was almost as though he'd ran a mental marathon instead of trying to sleep the last four hours. _I wonder if Hammond has had to deal with this kind of bullshit, or whether he can get a full night's sleep..._

Jack quickly dressed in his casual command attire, then made his way from his private quarters to StratCom where his senior staff had been assembled…it was becoming an all too familiar occurrence. "Report Colonel," the General asked as he settled into his chair.

"General we've received a coded alert from '51 Sir. It's the President Sir…" the Colonel trailed off. Jack hung his head, slumped forward and let out a deep sigh before taking a deep calming breath, composing himself, and looking up at the Colonel.

"What time did he pass son," General O'Neill inquired. The Colonel looked to his staff who had received, and then triple decoded, the message before turning back to the General.

"That's the thing Sir…The message wasn't that the President had succumbed to the virus," his voice trailed off doubting the validity of the message that had been transmitted to them. Growling in frustration and feeling he was being played with, O'Neill snapped.

"Spit it out God damn it. Either he's dead or one of those things now. There is no in between. I don't like games Colonel, spit out the message or you've got KP duty for a month!"

The Colonel knew he'd stepped on a nerve with the General, he composed himself and put on his "game face." "Sir, reports arrive at 12:43 hours from Area 51 concerning the status of the President and the security of the Base. On General Hammond's orders Sir, '51 has entered a state of general alarm, and his previous orders have been rescinded. They are conducting searches, both ground and areal of the area. He has ordered we reposition our satellite to begin active surveillance of a 500 mile radius of '51 and begin tracking all ground, air, and land transports indefinitely."

General O'Neill perked up at this, sat straighter and began issuing orders to repurpose the assets as General Hammond had ordered. _It's not like George to make these type of orders casually…he hasn't pulled rank in some time. What could possibly have happened, _Jack thought. "Alright you have my interest son…now what's wrong with the President?" The Colonel, without missing a beat, deadpanned, "He's gone Sir."

Jack leapt from his seat, knocking the Colonel out of his way. He was a man on a mission and his mission so far was to get to the com station and ensure that the message had been decrypted correctly.

"Did you verify that is what the message said!" Jack yelled as his mind raced, and only in the furthest reaches of his mind did he, for a millisecond, remember his strange dream.

"Yes Sir we decrypted the message three times on the computer, and twice by hand. The President is missing and General Hammond has ordered a search for him. It was an impossible extraction Sir…there were no ground sensor's tripped, and the base security system was rendered completely inoperable for a minute sir. No damage was conducted to the base, and the guards stationed near the President were not harmed. The soldiers involved are being isolated for tests to see if they were drugged, or part of a Russian plot Sir."

Jack looked up at this. "Is there really anything left of the Russian government that could have orchestrated this? I thought Britain, France, Germany, and the other NATO nations had bombed the ever loving shit out of Moscow, and laid as much to radioactive waste as they'd been given."

"Russian involvement is the best guess anyone has so far Sir…there is no other way to explain the President's abduction without a single shot being fired, or a single door being blown. When the security systems came back online, everyone thought it was a power fluctuation of some kind, because all systems read as normal, and checked out Sir."

_Even if the Russians had been able to get to '51 they should not have been able to effect the power there, or the systems. They've got the same damn generators and redundant manual locks to every electronically locked door. The President was topside in quarantine, but he was behind protections which could not have been breached in a single minute._ "Could the President have walked out of there when the systems went down Colonel?"

"Not unless he, in his current state, could manually unseal a minimum of 10 reinforced bomb proof doors, and make it all the way to the perimeter to avoid setting off the sensor net and automated weapons the minute power returned Sir," the Colonel replied.

_Could I risk sending a manned mission to fly over and join '51's efforts? Should I breach the seal on Cheyenne and risk base personnel to the virus? Fuck…he may be the President …. God Damn it all! _ "Have we still got video feeds of the blast door Colonel?"

The Colonel consulted a computer, checked several monitors, and then brought up a live stream of the Cheyenne Mountain Main entrance…and the blast doors. What had previously been flame scorched from civilians attempting to break in as the outbreak reached its peak, leaving the area the entrance tunnel littered with burnt out vehicles, piles of civilian possessions, several dead bodies, and more recently hordes of undead meandering around the tunnel…now the roadway was clear. There was no evidence of any of the previous carnage; the guard shack that had previously been mowed down in a rash of anger now stood pristine and functional. Several of the previously damaged cameras were apparently operational again as well, as the full view of the tunnel sections had been re-established. Jack couldn't believe what he was seeing.

"Check the operations log for the blast door Colonel! I want to know when that door was opened, and who the Hell has compromised my base. Alert security. I want everyone moved to quarters and accounted for." Jack didn't want to get all excited over a possible glitch in his systems though, so he also ordered a full diagnostic of his security systems, and to verify that the feed they were receiving was live.

"Something is going on here people, I want all officers armed and on patrol. The activities topside are very …. unsettling. I want security teams sent to unseal levels 1-10 and ensure that no one has breached the main shaft or any other access point; and make sure they are armed Colonel. If this is a trap, our enemies could have unleashed the hordes upon us. … The Lift shafts and stairwells are the only ways down. I want sweeps from top to bottom to verify that we don't have any uninvited guests." T

he General had been standing by a massive wall map of Cheyenne's Security layout, which he'd been using to point out the possible points of entry as he gave his orders. _If '51 could be breached so easily, God knows what could happen here. _"Please assemble all senior staff in my briefing room immediately. Dismissed." Activity erupted as the General turned to leave and print off several documents that he'd hoped he would never have to.

*****General O'Neil's Briefing Room*****

The entirety of the Base Senior Staff and Senior Civilian Consultants/Assets were currently assembled in the General's Briefing Room. Over twenty of the best and brightest that the United States Armed Forces had to offer were assembled and part of General O'Neill's team. These were the personnel who had been given access to recovered alien artifacts, and the one's whom had reverse engineered the systems currently powering and protecting the base. Captain Dr. Samantha Carter, a brilliant scientist in her own right, had quickly become the world's leading expert on non-terrestrial technology and sciences…though her research could not be published, nor her actual accomplishments made known, she was a formidable mind who was singularly responsible for the survival of the several thousands of individuals currently living in the mountain.

The primary civilian consultant that had been working under Dr. Carter, and who had been instrumental in helping them break the language barrier on the artifacts, was a man by the name of Dr. Daniel Jackson. While his theories had been discounted by scientific academia, his ideas and proposals had fit in very well with exactly what the chief scientists and theorists of the military had theorized since the 1940's….that Earth had, at one point in time, played host to an extremely advanced civilization which had vanished suddenly. He had been brought into the Artifact Program around the dawn of the millennium, and had become an asset that General O'Neill had fought, tooth and nail at times, to keep from being poached by '51 or other governmental agencies.

The other individuals assembled weren't of much note except that they were Department Heads, experts of their field, and the ones responsible for keeping order and a sense of hope under the Mountain. Jack trusted these individuals implicitly. Their choices, gut feelings, and intuition had proven their worth _repeatedly_ over the last several years.

The General entered suddenly from a side entrance, and everyone snapped to attention, and stood out of respect. "Please be seated everyone. I've called you all here today because I fear our security may have been breached." There were disbelieving mumblings as no one wanted to accept the possibility that the General's warning could be true. Jack sighed. "More than a month ago, the President fell victim to the virus," there were more mumblings, but no one dared interrupt General O'Neill. "With their advanced genetic manipulation and virology laboratories, the President's treating physicians were able to stay one step ahead of the virus, but for the most part nothing they tried could cure him. They managed to keep him relatively comfortable, and conscious for more than a month, only for him to become unconscious, but still being treated, when Hawaii was attacked. The First Family, as it currently exists, made their goodbyes and he was moved into isolation topside at '51, though still under constant watch by a protection detail as well as his doctors. A little over an hour ago, there was a breach of '51's security and all signs indicate that the President has been abducted." Disbelief was on the face of every man and woman present whether they be military or civilian.

"General Hammond has unsealed '51 and is in the process of conducting topside searches by land and air for any trace of the President or his abductors. In the process of repurposing assets to assist in carrying out General Hammond's orders, we discovered that there has possibly been a breach of base security." O'Neill leaned forward and took a sip of the water sitting in front of him and allowed a murmur that was going through the meeting to calm down.

Before he could continue someone down the table spoke, "breached how Sir?"

O'Neill nodded to an assistant who dimmed the lights and began playing back the security video of the StratCom through the strategically placed televisions all along the walls, and the very large one above, and immediately behind, the General. Once the video was finished, the screens switched to show the seal of the Air Force, before being replaced by a live stream of images rotating between the blast door, the tunnel, and the grounds surrounding the entrance to the base.

"This ladies and gentlemen," O'Neill began, "is the live feed of the base. All of you were present in this room when the various attacks happened, and have each served a stint monitoring base security after Ben's suicide. You all _know_ this image we are seeing is not reflective of the reality we've lived. I'm concerned that the same people who were able to so easily infiltrate '51 have somehow been able to compromise our security systems and are piping us false images…that's the only logical conclusion I've been able to come to. I've ordered that levels 1-10 be unsealed, and that active sweeps of the lifts and stairwells should commence immediately. What all of you are here to discuss though, is something you are not to share with anyone outside of this room, or discuss outside of my presence. Is this clear?" There was a chorus of Sir! Yes Sir!, as well as a few varied civilian responses…but all were affirmative.

"At the height of the cold war, while this base was being "remodeled", Military Brass concluded that a single entrance/exit was a strategic weakness." Everyone perked up at this, as most dreamed of the day they could leave. "It was decided therefore, that there would be a secret emergency exit constructed that would allow for rapid asset deployment and the emptying of the base. If you all will recall the anti-grave sleds which were pioneered in 2002, then the project was immediately cancelled." The General saw a few nods of recognition from the civilian staff that had been there that long, all of the scientist officers were in the know, but there were many blank looks from the other department heads and officers. Deciding to go on with his presentation, the General nodded to his assistant and new images of blueprints and diagrams of Cheyenne were introduced.

"The program was intentionally sabotaged to remove it from active pursuit; the sleds that were being tested at the time actually were able to stabilize and lift _any_ sized load added to them. General Hammond, and the President at the time, were still actively pursuing the device. They knew that if we were successful and we needed to evacuate quickly, taking the elevators, a few at the time, up sixty floors would not be feasible. With the actual success of the anti-grav lifts, it was decided the technology would secretly be incorporated into a high speed rail train connecting Cheyenne to a remote outpost in Alaska, with a companion track linking the Alaska site to civilian rail lines…though, from my understanding of the final project report, these civilian lines were built but did not register on any maps. I quite frankly don't know where they go to." Everyone was mesmerized by the General's revelation.

"General O'Neill, Sir," began Dr. Jackson somewhat timidly, "Is the Alaska location as….upgraded….as Cheyenne?"

The general brought up the, extremely classified, layout of the massive underground Alaska location.

"The Alaska location, codenamed BigFoot, is a massive underground facility located 500 meters below ground, spanning over 2 square miles in five sections, with up to 10 floors in each section. There are three rapid deployment hangers which can, when activated, deploy a fleet of 100 modified Abrams tanks, the newly christened "Hammond Class Hover Tank," 50 Convoy Support heavily armed vehicles, and various heavily reinforced armed vehicles. There are approximately 200 tons of various ammunition rounds, matching weaponry, and a full complement of armors and uniforms for the entire population of this base…along with several other technologies and weapons that were not made available to us."

Samantha, seizing on the General's last statement, prompted, "what do you mean about the technology General? What don't we have?"

"Captain Carter, most of what you've been reverse engineering over the course of the past half-decade are only scraps compared to some of the wonders the Air Force possess. An intact non-terrestrial space craft was discovered along with the device in 1945, which I need to remind myself is called a StarGate…thank you Dr. Jackson. In it were systems, still operating after millennia, designed to preserve and keep fresh fruits, vegetables, meats, cheeses, and drink. Radioactive dating indicated that one of the apples, which I sampled, was well over 100,000 years old. It tasted delicious. These systems were integrated into the facility, along with the energy and recycling systems, and I do believe it has managed to dedicate a significant portion of its facilities to a highly advanced hydroponics bay."

The General took a moment to catch his breath. "When the President started getting reports of what was going on with the virus, and ordered this facility to begin massively stockpiling supplies and resources, those orders weren't just delivered to us. They were also made to '51, a few bases thought the US, Hawaii, and BigFoot….there are several topside warehouses, with rooms the size of whole city blocks, which are stockpiled with MREs, Seed, fertilizer, ammunition, weapons, vehicle fuel, parts, communications equipment, etc. It was to be our fall back position in the event of nuclear war should this facility ever be compromised, originally, but was repurposed to serve as a back up command base in the event of an invasion."

Everyone was sitting in silence digesting everything that they had been told thus far. "What I brought you all here for today was to reveal the existence of this fall back base, and the possible threat we are facing topside. We, and '51, are the majority of the remainder of the United States Air Force and Armed Forces." The General said this as he looked into the eyes, indeed the very souls of every military officer present.

"Most importantly though, we also are a refuge for one of the single largest civilian populations still organized, operating, and functioning in the _known_ world. We have under this mountain representatives from almost every profession, civil or military, in the United States. I have to take all of this into consideration whenever I make a command decision. I have spoken with General Hammond, and he agrees that we should not abandon Cheyenne until absolutely necessary, and we should not split up unless our supplies and resources forced a move."

"However, today's developments have changed everything. There is a secret elevator corridor that can take up to 250 persons per elevator, there are a total of 4, down to a secret final level which is the platform for our hover high speed rail-line to BigFoot. I have called all of you here today because I want to have an honest discussion and I want us to continue to act as a team. We are all we have, and while I do maintain absolute authority over this base and personnel, I don't want to expose anyone to needless risk…life has always been precious, but these days it is even more so. We have managed to maintain our freedom from the virus and no one in this mountain is a carrier." The General stood up walked to a side of the room that was still displaying the hydroponic bays of BigFoot.

"I don't want to completely evacuate Cheyenne right now, but at the same time I realize that we could be the future of humanity's survival as the outside world continues to collapses and deteriorate. To that end, I would like to begin discussions on sending an exploratory team to BigFoot, conducting a site evaluation, and reporting back as to its current condition. If the report checks out, I think it would be prudent to start staffing it and begin using its resources…especially it's farming potential. It would be nice to have fresh fruits and veg outside of the dehydrated shit we've been stuck with these last several months."

"It's a wise move General," began someone down the line, "as we would have our fallback position secured and waiting for use should your fears about breach here prove true…but should we really wait to find out whether this breach has occurred or not? Doesn't it make sense to start sending non-essential personnel now so we can save as many as possible in the event we have been breached?"

There were a few nods in the affirmative, especially from the civilians present. Dr. Jackson was the only civilian who disagreed. "General, respecting everyone else's opinion, I don't think we should let fear motivate us right now. Assuming that '51 was breached, they weren't flooded with hordes of the undead and attacked. The actions that were taken topside are not consistent with helping us. We know that aliens exist Sir…what if they've come back?" The General turned sharply from the screen and focused solely on Dr. Jackson. There were several groans from the room as "the aliens coming back" was a constant theme from Dr. Jackson.

"Why would you think that Dr. Jackson? They've been absent from human history for at least the last 100,000 years." Dr. Jackson removed his glasses and began cleaning them, as was his way of dealing with stress. "I don't think they ever completely left General."

"God damn it Daniel, now isn't the time for your pet theory that aliens were the "gods" of primitive man. We're dealing with a global crisis, and remnants of humanity that _could_ have hacked our video feeds and nothing more," began an irate civilian woman.

"There was no archeological evidence to suggest that any non-terrestrial species guided human development, and the evidence for their existence that we have found suggests that they were here briefly…then they disappeared. The General is offering us _real hope_ for once. You are a brilliant linguist Daniel, and have a gifted mind…but I've lost too much and made too many sacrifices to have to listen to your shit anymore. I want my _living_ daughter to have a chance to grow up and live safely…I want her to reach the ripe old age of 30, and if we were to blindly accept your theory and breach the seals on this base she'd be exposed to the virus…that is unacceptable. General, I know I'm not the highest ranking civilian in this room, and with all due respect to Dr. Jackson for his amazing contributions to our past work, but we don't need to focus on our past. We should focus on our present. Today you've outlined a possibility for a future…not an easy one, but a future nonetheless for my daughter. It may not be green pastures and mountain vistas, but it's got to be better than growing up in this cramped base….no offense General, Officers." The woman, whose name was Jennifer, had stood somewhere during the course of her little speech, and started crying. She was comforted in her seat by a Lieutenant seated beside her.

"General," Dr. Jackson began with a somewhat wavering voice, "I wasn't trying to imply we shouldn't be cautious or thoroughly investigate whatever is going on…my larger point was that human history is replete with instances of what primitive man considered supernatural occurrences. There has to be a basis for these events, and the larger point is that in humanity's greatest times of need….we've had help." Dr. Jackson looked down the table at Jennifer, then continued.

"Jennifer, you are right to want to see your daughter grow up. You are absolutely right in wanting to have a safe place, apart from this base, for our society to continue…and I agree with you that BigFoot will provide an excellent expansion for this base and our future. My _only_ comment, and point I want to make, is that we should begin to consider that these unexplained phenomenon may not be hostile in nature. They could be signs of greater beings beginning to interact with Earth again. I'm sorry if I upset you Jennifer, that wasn't my intention."

Jennifer had been consoled by the time Dr. Jackson finished his remarks and in a calmer state understood the greater point that Dr. Jackson was trying to make. She nodded her head in acceptance of his apology and the two, while not the closest of friends, were colleagues who put their professionalism ahead of their personal beliefs.

The general moved back to the center of the room, at the head of the table, and stood behind his chair contemplating what he'd said.

"I called you all here to reveal BigFoot to you and seek advice as to whether or not we should evacuate. It's going to take our teams at least another two hours of prep and an hour to break through the seals on level 10, and each subsequent level…why don't we take a 30 minute break, then meet back here? When you do come back be prepared to have a calm and short debate on the topic of base wide or partial base evac. Dr. Jackson and Captain Carter, please come to my office. The rest of you are dismissed."

*****O'Neill's Office*****

"Please sit down guys," O'Neill invited Sam and Daniel to sit on his sofa while he sat in his favorite armchair. Daniel started to speak, but Jack cut him off. "Not now Daniel, we don't have much time and this isn't about Jennifer." Daniel sat back and listened, along with Sam as his superior, to what the General had to say. "What you said back there Daniel, was something that I had not even began to consider. Knowing that aliens exist and have visited Earth in the distant past is one thing, but thinking that they are actively watching us and have an interest in helping us is something that I would have thought preposterous." The General looked away from Daniel and Sam, and focused on an ornament adorning the wall near them.

"I think I was visited last night." There was silence in the room at Jack's pronouncement.

"Jack… what makes you think that," Sam began.

Frowning, almost as though what he was about to say was something vile and offensive, he responded, "I had just gotten into bed and drifted off when I found myself in a circular room with several people seated around me. They explained that they were not from Earth, had observed we needed help, and were contacting me privately to offer their assistance in dealing with the virus." Jack started fidgeting with an imaginary string on his pants leg as he continued.

"Long story short I thought it was all a very vivid, and horrible dream, and told them the only way I'd believe them would be if they could cure the President. I told them exactly where he was, and what was going on. Their leader made some comment about my asking for such a "small" request to prove their sincerity. There may have been mention that he could have made it so we could go back to the surface if we had requested that, but I was so determined to see the President live I didn't request that."

"That was an accurate summation of your discussions with our Supreme Commander General O'Neill," began a new voice in the room that had not previously been there before. So startled at the voice, Jack overturned his chair. Sam and Daniel weren't far behind him in action. Daniel was half way over Jack's coffee table trying to shield the General from possible harm, and Sam was in the process of drawing her weapon to point it at the stranger when the speaker flickered from her position beside the General to a point near the door.

_Well_, thought Captain Talia, _that's certainly one way to react to my arrival. _

"Who the Hell are you and how did you get in!?" Came the voice of Captain Carter as she chambered a round in her gun. The General was being assisted to his feet by Dr. Jackson, and he finally came face to face with Talia.

"Your face is not familiar…you weren't part of the original group that I met last night are you," Jack asked….surprisingly calm considering his dream was not only real, but these beings had the ability to monitor their conversations.

"I send you greetings Captain Samantha Carter, Doctor Daniel Jackson, and again General Jack O'Neill from the Alterra Nova Star Empire and our Emperor. I am Captain Talia of the CityShip Atlantis. I have been sent as a personal envoy of the Emperor to you General Jack O'Neill. I take it, General, that our actions thus far are proof enough for you that we are real?" Talia asked as she flickered again only to reaper and lean against the General's desk.

"What have you done with the President? Sam, lower your weapon. These beings are capable of transporting my mind into a hologram aboard their ship, I highly doubt one of their representatives would allow themselves to come to harm. Either she's a hologram herself, or our weapons are useless against her. She's not shown any aggression, aside from kidnapping the President, let's all stay calm here."

Talia smiled at the General's logic and thought process. "You are quite right General. I am here in the form of what my people call a "hard light" hologram. I can physically interact with you, your surroundings, objects, and I appear quite solid…but I assure you my person is actually nowhere near the planet Earth. We have been monitoring your base as well as the facility from which we took your President, and we'd like to ask you to contact the other and let them know they can relax. Your President is safe and has entered into suspended animation while our research on the virus continues."

Talia walked from the desk to stand in front of the trio. "Prior to initiating contact with you General, we sent an advance research and reconnaissance team to an area near this base where we could observe and study the virus as well as its potential treatment." Jack caught the gaze of both Daniel and Samantha and shook his head, indicating he didn't want them to interrupt their "guest."

"We've so far discovered that the virus is a corruption of a normal, human, immune system which has somehow mutated. We managed to locate "fresh" specimens, a family of four, where two individuals had no sign of the virus, and the other two did. It was only with the arrival of the Chief of Alterran Medical Sciences and his specialized teams that we were able to create an effective treatment for the carriers, a recently bitten mother and her young son. Alterran protocols dictate that when confronted with a new virus of this level and severity, patients must be isolated for at least a full week with active monitoring before being released into the general population."

"You can treat the President?" Jack asked quietly, refusing to believe what he was hearing.

"General, your President has been placed into stasis because he was in an advanced stage of decline…this virus has almost run its course with him. He is receiving treatment on the microscopic level while in stasis in an effort to give him the best chance we can. I'll be honest with you…the subjects we treated were freshly infected, and the fever had not yet set in on them. We are capable of great feats of medicine, but we are uncertain whether or not we will be able to save you're President with his weakened body."

"When will we know whether or not your treatment is working," came the voice of Dr. Jackson.

"We request that you allow us at least a week to treat him and attempt to stabilize him," Talia responded. "After we've attempted to treat him and can bring him out of stasis, we will be able to give you an answer to your question."

"Surely you realize your actions have created chaos for us in a time when we cannot afford such Captain," Samantha began. "Even now our companion base in Nevada, where you took the President from, has broken their quarantine and those people are exposing themselves to sure death if they are exposed to the virus in their search for the President. I highly doubt they would be willing to call off their search just because General O'Neill asked them to." Sam lowered her weapon but didn't holster it.

"Captain Talia, it's not like we can stop you from doing whatever you're going to do…but If you endanger this base or my people I will hunt you down and drag you to the pits of Hell myself," Jack stated with as much resolve as he could muster.

"I would expect nothing less from such an adept and loyal soldier General. You are a credit to your people," Talia replied. "Part of the reason I'm here though is to inform you of what has happened to your President so you wouldn't endanger lives needlessly; another is that I'm here to open free and clear communications between our two peoples. To that end I have commissioned the creation of a data terminal which your people will be able to utilize, that hold all of our information on the virus, its effects, and possible treatments. It will be updated in real time so your scientists may observe our progress. I am also leaving in your care General a portable communications system that will be able to reach myself or my staff."

"We have scanned your base and determined that your air filtration systems are adequate to initiate in person contact. Are you still intent on breaching your seals and returning to the surface," Talia needed to know so she could begin securing the base and surrounding area of the mountain by installing a defensive wall and shield generators, as well as particulate matter filters that would scrub the virus from the air contained in the perimeter.

"You repaired our systems and cleaned up the blast door and tunnels," General O'Neill questioned. At Talia's nod he continued. "Why?"

"General, again, we wanted to extend the olive branch so to speak. We wanted to take actions that would show you we aren't a threat seeking to enslave and concur as would be a legitimate fear of yours. We also are trying our damn best to prove to you that this virus of yours is terrestrial in origin. We are not your benevolent overseers who visit our pets every few thousand years General. We are visiting your region of space for the first time, and as a peace loving humanoid species ourselves, we feel obligated to lend whatever assistance we can…but for the average person to cooperate with us we will need native authority figures to continue to enforce your people's laws and maintain order. We are not interested in a long term commitment to this Earth, nor to your people…but Hell will freeze over before we pass you by in your time of need."

Talia gave a mental command through her neural interface for the communications device she had mentioned to be beamed to the General's desk, and for the terminal to be beamed down as well.

Seeing the new technology appear, Samantha spoke up. "What do we have to lose General? If you're looking for advice, I say we play along…it's not like we're in any position to resist them as it is…they may even know the people who created the device."

"Device," Talia asked. "What device? We've conducted thorough scans of this facility and have detected no non-terrestrial technology." Talia frowned deeply at this. It seems the infected weren't the only issue with their sensors. _Oh joy…the Supreme Commander will be thrilled at this revelation._

The General shared a look between both Samantha and Daniel, before beginning. "We discovered several artifacts around the world, starting in the late 1930s and continuing after the Second World War." Seeing Talia's look of confusion he clarified, "the late 1940s and early part of 1950. Most of the artifacts were parts and devices we found which were composed of a metal not native to this world. Our detection equipment was just being perfected and our satellites were primitive, but they were all effective. In the American south west we detected a large concentration of this metal, the largest we'd discovered on Earth at the time or since."

The General motioned for Talia to follow him over to a section of his wall, behind his desk, where he flipped a switch and a large panel raised revealing a panel of glass. Talia couldn't see anything from her vantage point as there were no lights illuminating the area.

The General pressed a wall com and gave an order, "I need power and lights in G-7A." An affirmative was given in response, and clicks began to be heard before lights sparked to life, and dimly started to light. Talia drew closer to the window to see what the mystery device may be.

A room the size of a football field began to light up and a black twisted _mass_ began to take shape. It had an opening, if it could be called that, facing the General's office where a circle had been cut and some type of machinery was exposed…the other end of the room could be seen as the center of the thing was hollow.

"What in the 7 levels of reality is that thing," Talia couldn't help but to question aloud.

"Severus, are you seeing what I am?" The Commander of the Severus responded to Talia via her neural interface. "_That's affirmative Captain. We are attempting to adjust our scanners now to begin analysis. We're sending in a phased and cloaked probe now. Severus out._"

"Who is Severus," questioned Dr. Jackson.

_Shit_. Thought Talia. "The ISS Severus is an advanced resource ship sent to provide security and oversight of our research mission here on your planet. It is ensuring that Alterra Nova technology and biological assets are not endangered by another space fairing race; as well as ensuring that the same does not pose a threat to your planet while we render assistance."

_That's close enough to the truth, and an accurate description of its mission,_ thought Talia.

General O'Neill, hearing Talia's description, got a little…angry. "Resource ship? Bullshit, sounds like a Battle Ship to me. Tell me again about how you've…what was the phrase you used; "come in peace?"

"General you are free to believe whatever you wish, but we have the right to defend our people to the best of our abilities…the best of our abilities are millions of years more advanced than you," Talia said with a note of frustration entering into her voice. "If all you want to see are threats and conspiracy in all that I have to say, I'm going to abandon our efforts to negotiate the evacuation of your planet with you. There are several dozen other potential leaders and communities we could start with. You don't have to be involved, and we can return your President to you right now in his present condition and within another 48 of your hours he will be a mindless beast intent on spreading his sickness and sating his hunger with the tender flesh of your young and helpless." Talia flickered across the room to the area by the chair the General had overturned.

"Is that the future you want General; to continue to watch your society digress and consume itself, or do you want an actual God's honest chance to re-establish a society and provide for the safety of the _few_ humans that are left?" Talia waited for an answer.

General O'Neill was not a man who enjoyed being talked down to. It made him especially mad for someone to dare to do so, as if he was a green recruit from the prairie, in _his_ _God Damn Office_. While he wanted to rage, throw things, or even shoot the little bitch that was pulling his strings and trying his patience, but he hadn't achieved the rank and position he had due to a lack of discipline though. Though his face flushed, and his blood boiled, he swallowed his anger and calmly lowered the panel back into place, called central to kill the power to the Device room, and took a seat at his desk. Samantha and Daniel unconsciously took either side of the General in a show of solidarity and support.

"Alright_ Captain_. You've got me." Talia blinked at the sudden change of demeanor of the General. "I'm afraid I don't follow General," Talia replied.

General O'Neill looked first to Dr. Jackson, then to Captain Carter.

"We surrender. Name your terms."

"Oh General...don't mistake my anger for aggression," Talia's features relaxed in an attempt to calm the General down. "You are a good leader who is doing everything he can for his people. We are not here to remove you from power, or even separate your group. We just want to open channels and begin helping the people who don't have a mountain to hide under. The vast majority of your planet's population is either dead or dying. We want to save as many people as we can; but we can't do that effectively unless the people have someone they can place their trust in. We need you to consider being that man, or encouraging that man to come forward."

The General placed his head in his hands as Talia spoke, his years showing through and his stress levels finally taking their toll on him.

"Save the President M'am. He's the man you need."

"We'll do what we can General, and we are certainly working our hardest. In the meantime, why don't you familiarize yourself with the gifts I've delivered. Peace be with you." With that, Talia vanished as suddenly as she'd appeared.

*****Atlantis Supreme Commander's Office*****

_Bloody fool_, thought Harry as he cut the audio line Talia was broadcasting back to Atlantis. _He's not going to be truly cooperative unless he's seen we are not going to hurt him or his people._ _Not my problem though!_ Harry smirked at the thought. He was very glad that Talia was as capable as she was.

"Computer, open a com channel to the Camelot please." "_Com channel open_," came the reply of the ethereal voice of the computer.

"This is the ISS Camelot, Commander Stra'ix reporting Sir."

"Commander Stra'ix, this is Supreme Commander Potter. Have you finished your shakedown of the Camelot by chance?" There was a pause on the line as the Commander consulted ship's AI.

"Aye Sir. We've managed to finish our shakedown cruise and were going to assist in the construction of the ISS Nymphadora to fully test our systems."

"Commander that won't be necessary. I have a priority mission for the Camelot that I want you on immediately." Without waiting for acknowledgment Harry continued. "I want you to travel to the Sol System, and rush construction on three Modified Atlantis Class CityShips, to be named the ICS New Hope, the ICS Refuge, and the ICS Salvation." Commander Sta'ix was perplexed at the Supreme Commander's request.

"Sir," began the Commander, "We haven't got the forces to crew those sized additions to the Fleet yet. The Atlantis Class requires a flesh and blood commander."

"I know that Commander. Check your data packet I've sent. I want these CityShips to be large in scale, but not in tech. I have a feeling that the survivors of Earth will be most grateful to have a means of escaping their planet…or at least the chaos they're suffering."

Commander Sta'ix reviewed the plans and system requirements for the three modified CityShips the Supreme Commander wanted constructed. "Supreme Commander, I have significantly more nanites swarms and construction potential than the Forge could ever dream of. Most of the nanites used to construct the Camelot have spawned and their progeny have been included as resources at my disposal. These, significantly more primitive, CityShips will take a fraction of the time to construct and bring online than the Camelot."

"Can you give me an estimate on a time frame Commander," Harry asked.

The Commander ran a few computer simulations and consulted a few members of his staff before he turned back around to answer Harry. "Commander Potter, we are confident in estimating that these ships, to your specs, will be ready and launched within a week. Shall I begin construction?"

"Affirmative Commander. I want daily updates on your progress. Potter out."

_Whether or not the General comes around, I can't sit by any longer. I've got to begin evacuating the survivors to some type of safety. We can treat them after we've fed, clothed, and rescued them. _

"Computer, open a secure com line with Team Gamma on the Earth Expedition." "_Com channel open."_

"Supreme Commander to Team Leader, respond."

"This is team leader Supreme Commander."

"Have you managed to make any progress so far Team Leader?" Harry had personally poured over the personnel files of the HFRs created by Atlantis and selected these individuals for this exact mission because of their skills and precision technical training.

"My Lord we've been able to modify the nanites as you suggested to restore the brain to a somewhat functional state. We also were able to successfully screen the virus from the DNA of our patient and create a viable, clean embryo Sir. Once we had done so, we removed the head from the body, and managed to attach the head to support systems which began feeding the brain oxygen and species specific vital fluids. We've been able to graft in micro neural stimulators to gently massage the brain into rebooting."

"Has there been progress? Is the brain salvageable?" This was a monumental breakthrough for the infected. If they could reboot the brain it would be a simple step for them to simply clone a new body then transfer the consciousness of the individual into their new body.

"Supreme Commander, initial results are promising, but something about the virus highly degrades the DNA. This young woman was relatively _fresh_ and as such it wasn't too hard to synthesize a viable batch of her DNA. As to her brain becoming viable again, we're pioneering new territory here Sir. No one has ever attempted to recover decomposed brain matter to the extent we're dealing with. The Alterran databanks and repositories held theories about the possibilities of resurrection after brain death, but that was still for _living_ patents. These things, though they move and shamble about, are by no means alive."

"I understand Commander, but I have every confidence that you _will_ make progress. However, there is no sense in beating a dead horse. Are you sure that with a freshly infected individual you will be able to save them?" Harry had other plans in place that depended on the answer to his questions.

"We've got three specimen in advanced stages of decomposition Sir. Best estimates place these at least being 6 months post mortem. We've got three others who range from 1 month to 1 week post mortem." The Commander reviewed a screen to his left to verify what he was about to inform Harry next.

"As instructed Sir we've also begun our live specimen testing phase. We are conducting trials now."

"What's the designation for your first subject Commander?"

"We've not revived her from stasis yet Sir, but we have taken a clean DNA sample as well as inventory; her designation is Lilith. Either she shall be the first woman of her kind, or she shall remain a monster. She is a human female found on the North American Continent, near the former city of Toronto. The rate of cell degradation and replacement indicates she is in her early to mid 30s Sir."

"Very well Commander, sounds like you have a good test subject. Take her out of stasis slowly, and then allow one of the infected to bite her. Ensure it is severe enough that the infection sets in immediately. I want to go through as few _live_ subjects for your tests as possible. If you fail to revive her synapses completely, I want her disposed of as humanely and immediately as possible. Do you have any questions Commander?"

"Negative Supreme Commander."

"Then you are to carry on with your mission. I want results within the next 48 hours. Potter out."

_It's a nasty business_, Harry thought, _but it's necessary to try and save those poor unfortunate souls. I need a shower…..God I'll never clean these people's blood off my hands. _

*****ISS Mercy 24 Hours Later*****

"Are you sure this test is showing the correct results," Epsilon Leader asked. Seeing nods in the affirmative the speaker continued. "Alright then, someone contact Doctor Malcom. He needs to know about this immediately…we've done it. We've managed to create a viable anti-body which this version of humans' immune system should not reject. Synthesize a batch and administer it to "P-Rez". Once you're sure his system has accepted it I want you to gradually bring him out of stasis until he's capable of being safely awakened. You have your orders team, let's make history."

Opening a com channel to Doctor Malcom's personal laboratory on Earth, a young looking woman began, "Epsilon 004 to Doctor Malcom. Acknowledge."

"This is Malcom Epsilon 004. It's rather late is something wrong," the Doctor questioned.

"No Sir; Epsilon Leader asked that you be contacted and informed that we have a viable solution, and we are administering it to Patient "P-Rez" now Sir."

There was a pause as the Doctor Processed the information. "Epsilon 004, please inform Epsilon Leader I will be joining you onboard the Mercy shortly to observe the patient's treatment. Malcom out." _Thank the stars,_ Doctor Malcom thought. _This is just the break the Emperor needed before he could move on to his next phase of operations…I knew it would be hard work, but I'm amazed we were able to solve this problem relatively easily. By their gods we've been lucky!_

The treatment of the President had gone smoothly. He had been treated, and over the course of the last 24 hours had been removed from stasis and slowly awakened. The first thing he had done was ask for his daughters, and the status of the country. When he had completely woken, it was explained to him that he was not on Earth, that he was in the presence of benevolent non-terrestrial humanoids, who had devised a solution for treating the recently infected and which would immunize non-infected from the virus.

Doctor Malcom had been carefully explaining everything to the President when he respectfully cut him off, "I'm very grateful for your help and very thankful for your intervention Doctor, but I need to speak to your head of government. I also need to confer with my people to let them know I am alright, and that we will be able to reclaim the homeland soon."

"I understand Mr. President, our Emperor has taken an interest in your progress as you were the bargaining chip, if you were, to prove our interests in your planet were nothing but benevolent. If you will wait a moment while I open a secure com channel." The President nodded in understanding.

"Computer, open a secure visual com channel with Supreme Commander Potter." _"Secure channel open." _

"Alterra Nova Chief of Medical Sciences to Emperor Potter, on behalf of the President of the United States," Doctor Malcom said with a small amount of smugness in his voice at having saved his patient.

Harry's face and office came into view. "Go ahead Doctor, Mr. President it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance. Are you feeling alright?" There were several attendants milling about Harry handing him data pads left and right, hoping to get his approval or opinion of some project that was needed or vital to the Empire…or so they claimed.

"I am unfamiliar with how to properly address you as a fellow Head of State Emperor Potter, but I hope you will not take offense to Your Majesty or similar honorific," the President began in an attempt to muster as much dignity as he could while confined to a medical bed. "I am the 44th President of the United States of America, Barack Hussein Obama. On behalf of myself, my government, and what people remain, I want to thank you for the efforts you have extended thus far to save as many people as possible." President Obama began to collect his thoughts.

"Seeing as you are possessing of sciences, technologies, and capabilities that humanity has not yet even dared hope to achieve, I would ask to seek your assistance in the eradication of the viral threat still facing our Planet, as well as the extraction of any living human from danger wherever they may be. Do you have the capability of doing so, and are you willing to?"

"President Obama," Harry began, "you may address me however you feel comfortable, and as to our capabilities; we have already designated your planet as a Class I Biohazard, and I've ordered my officers and scientists to devise a means of saving as many of your people as possible. I've also ordered my shipyards to begin building cities of refuge for the survivors so that we can begin immediate treatment, and saving as many human lives as possible. I'm leaving the government, policing, and oversight of the survivors to their chosen representatives Mr. President, but at the moment I'm not willing to recognize any authority figure except yourself. Are you prepared, and capable, of speaking for the people of the planet of Earth?" Harry neglected to inform the President that the cities would in effect be star ships.

President Obama thought of this family, the demands of his office, and the oath he swore to protect and preserve the Constitution…he couldn't do that if there were no Americans left though.

"Emperor Potter, my government collapsed, my country's population is in ruins. Our cities have burned, our people have been massacred in the streets, and every effort I took to contain the spread of the virus failed. I honestly don't feel worthy or being given such global reaching responsibility when I failed my own people and allies so horrendously," President Obama answered with a sigh and a tear sliding down his cheek.

Harry observed the President over the view screen and considered his words, and weighted them against what his plans were. After a few moments of contemplation, he smiled a toothy grin at the President. "Mr. Obama, you'll do very well. Doctor Martin, please see to it that the President is able to speak to _all_ of the remaining Earth forces, his people first though or anyone he requests. Have the crew of the Severus begin hacking into and taking control of the existing military and civilian broadcast channels, and set up Mr. Obama with a holocom. I want you and Mr. Obama, if he is amenable, to broadcast a dual message to all pockets of humanity that currently exist." Seeing the Doctor and President Obama nod, Harry Continued.

"Doctor, I would like you to give a little back story on who we are, our government structure, and how we plan on treating everyone to prevent further devastation of this virus. Mr. President, if you would be willing we would like you to appear in this broadcast as well to verify your treatment and convince everyone that cooperation will be in their best interest, and that within 48 hours of your broadcast," Harry looked at a memo he'd requested from Talia on how long it would take to transport the remaining human population onto the three new CityShips he was planning on landing off the coast of Hawaii. "We have outfitted one of the ships with a large facility which we've designed to serve as a Parliament for the surviving people of your world Mr. President. Once we've saved as many people as possible we will oversee your formation of a new government, or assist in the sweep of your world of the infected so you may return to your former geopolitical segregation if you so choose…we are also willing to open our doors and welcome as many humans as desire to become citizens of the Alterra Nova Empire."

President Obama stopped to consider everything he'd been told, which considering the possible ramifications, boggled his mind.

"Emperor Potter," President Obama began with a noticeable tremble in his voice, "just how many people are still _alive_?"

Harry frowned, as he hadn't wanted to be the one to deliver this particular troubling fact to the President. "Mr. President, we've managed to take an accurate census of your planet, both the living and the infective have been conclusively counted. The United States Managed to fare much better than most densely populated portions of the planet, and it didn't help that Europe and most of Asia are a radioactive wasteland. The sad fact Sir is, that 99 percent of the human populations is either deceased or infected. Our scanners indicate that there are slightly more than 70 million people alive and uninfected or just recently infected. I have ordered the construction of facilities that will be able to house up to 35 million people each. There should be ample space for the survivors to be gathered, treated, and for your cultures to survive until we can come to a solution for how to deal with the infected roaming freely around your globe."

"Fuck me," Obama uttered under his breath…then he began to openly sob. He wept for the lives cut short, he wept for those which would now never come, and mostly he wept for the sheer loss of life. The President always believed that a spark existed by humanity's existence; he truly believed that humans would one day leave their mark on the universe and that their creativity would one day be spoken of with reverence and respect…now, with their numbers so low, it was unlikely that their species would survive another thousand years.

"My Lord," began Doctor Malcom, "if you would allow, I still need to see to my patient and that was quite a shock to give his system Sir. There are also several other communique's to be made to Mr. Obama's underlings and military personnel to help them begin the process of rounding up all of the survivors they can. I ask humbly, is there any chance you could finish your discussions with Mr. Obama at a later time; also, with Mr. Obama's permission, I would like to begin administering the inoculation to the people of Earth…may I?"

"Of course, with the President's approval. You know best Doctor, and I'm sure Mr. Obama would like to speak with his family. Mr. Obama we can speak at your convenience. Happy recovery, until then the good Doctor will make any resource, within reason, available to you, if you would prefer to be treated at the facility you were brought from the Doctor can make arrangements to return you, and a small staff of our medical personnel to accompany you. Potter out."

As the Doctor began scanning him once again to ensure he'd not been shocked too badly, President Obama reclined and felt some of the weight of the world melt from his shoulders…it was almost too good to be true.

"Doctor, I think I'd like to take up Emperor Potter on his offer. Would it be too much trouble to return to Area 51, the desert base I was brought from? I'd like to see my family and begin speaking to my Generals and the last surviving state of the Union.

"Yes Mr. President, let me open a channel for you to your base so we can make preparations. Computer, open visual com link with the base command from which we extracted patient P-Rez; Authorization Malcom Zulu Zulu 06521. Execute."

"_Com link established. Channel Open."_ The image on the screen shifted to show the General Hammond in his StratCom at Area 51, and the senior staff as they were in a meeting. The first indication they had that the line was on was when some highly decorated officer suddenly shouted, "Mr. President!" … it took over 30 minutes for the President to restore order for the room and assure the individuals in the room that he was himself, that he was fine, and the story of the Alterrans who were trying to help. Doctor Malcom stepped out of the room once he was assured the President was fine, and gently reminded him as he left that the base needed to be informed he was going to be returned shortly and that they should let him, the President, know where they would like him transported.

* * *

><p>*****Earth*****<p>

The treatment devised by the crew of the Mercy had been delivered to the mother and son specimens at Earth Base Command once they had been removed from stasis, but remained sedated.

It had been over 24 hours since the President had been returned to Area 51, during which time the ICS New Hope and the ICS Refuge had been completed, launched, ran through minimal trials, and landed off the coast of Hawaii.

To each City, and with the blessings of the US President, most of the military brass, a good number of the personnel, and the remainder of his administration from'51, Cheyenne, and Hawaii took up residency on the New Hope, and became the backbone of the state police force, and judicial officers, and civilian population; rescue shuttles, by the dozen, were being sent to sweep the globe to locate survivors to beam to the cities. They chose the New Hope as it was the City with the dedicated World Parliament facilities. As the Americans had been the first humans installed in the city, their governing structure was programmed as the defacto model for the survivor's government. Elections were scheduled for two years' time, so as to provide for the rescue, treatment, registration, and health of the remaining human population. President Obama was installed as defacto leader of the human government, but no offensive or flight systems of the cities could be activated without Alterran consent. It was a condition that the President was happy to concede to.

The ICS Salvation splashed down in the Indian Ocean, and began the same relief efforts, under the watchful eye of the New Hope.

It was decided that an Alterran Ambassador was needed to facilitate the deployment of the cities in a way more conducive to the needs and rescue plans devised by the Americans: and so the Emperor of the Alterran Empire promoted Lt. Donaldson, now Ambassador Donaldson, to serve as the personal representative of the Emperor to the people and refugee government of Earth. The Ambassador set up a small Embassy on the New Hope which would have been the High Counselor's apartments and offices on Atlantis. With the Salvation deployed where the Americans wanted it, they then requested that the Refuge be sent to conduct relief efforts in Europe and Africa, while the New Hope turned its efforts on North and South America, the Caribbean, and the Pacific Isles.

Groups that were found together, were transported to the same processing centers onboard the respective City who's shuttle found them. It had been a week so far, and thousands upon thousands of individuals had been rescued from the United States; most projections showed that America and Canada could have up to 35 million survivors alone, which would make them the single largest national block of survivors.

Time passed, approximately two weeks, on and with the assistance of the Severus, the Albus, and the transport systems of even the Camelot, the cities were filled with each and every living human which remained on earth.

The people, initially fearing delusion, when a hologram of the American President suddenly appeared to them were understandably relieved when they were removed from danger and it was explained to them that a working cure had been found for the virus which had destroyed their lives. Getting used to their new surroundings, and technologies, took some time from the people, but the Alterrans were kind enough to modify their systems to suit the needs of the masses.

It didn't take long before familiar style broadcast networks emerged, a burgeoning entertainment sector started to grow, and a barter economy was easily giving way to a more sophisticated system as banks, schools, and even a university were being established.

Farmer's stepped forward to manage and grow their crops in the vast hydroponic bays of the cities, fishermen were given modified vessels that could fish deeper, and haul heavier loads, all while hovering over the roughest of seas in perfect safety. There was even talks of the government petitioning the Alterrans to establish safe zones on land to begin raising cattle and other meats.

In this all, humanity had found that spark that had previously been feared extinguished…life found a way. The people of governments who once looked at each other with fear, now came together to rejoice in their humanity and commiserate in their shared losses. The few religious leaders of the world which had survived the plague quickly organized churches, synagogues, temples, and mosques not to highlight diversity, but to provide a space to rejoice in the deliverance of God's grace through the hands of the Alterrans. There was talk within the remaining Christian, Islamic, and Jewish fellowships that the three camps would come together and recognize this as a fresh start; a new basis upon which to found the religion of peace, respect, and stewardship which all three faiths had professed, and the Alterrans so monumentally put into practice. Most saw the Alterran Intervention, as it was being called, as coming as a new revelation of God…and they were going to do their best to ensure that no practitioners of their faiths could ever utilize this event, or their faith, to cause division or strife ever again.

The sphere or religions were not the only area of note among the World Net Broadcasts, as the leading television news show came to be known. Most people were anxiously awaiting the first, albeit temporary, elections to the World Parliament, which would act as the legislative branch of the new world order. President Obama, who was to remain as a somewhat authoritarian executive until full elections could be held in two years time, had indicated he would not commit to sending troops to deal with the infected until a Parliament had been seated to either approve or deny his plans. Life was too precious to risk it further without a clear mandate of the people, and so for the last week each city had been split into districts, and all 800 seats of the House of Commons, and 250 seats in the People's Senate, were up for grabs.

Surprisingly enough the very act of hosting an election, and all their related activities, did more to lift the collective spirits of the survivors than even being rescued. Elections were boring, being able to participate in elections meant you were safe, boring meant normal…and so the people, instead of rioting and devolving into thieves, bandits, or lunatics proved that humanity remained even if their species may be on the verge of extinction. Under the American Model, and Alterran oversight, the first class of Parliamentarians were sworn in, and began doing what Parliaments do best…making laws, and regulations for their new reality.

The first bill passed, surprisingly, was not an outline of Universal Rights, nor letters of authorization giving President Obama the mandate he'd requested to partner with the Alterrans and begin removing the infected from their former homelands. The bill was the creation of the "Highest Civilian Award" of the Unified Government of the Free People's Republic of Earth, which the Parliament unanimously voted be awarded to Doctor Martin of the Alterra Nova Empire for his, and his staff's, creation of the cure for the virus which had ravaged their planet. Each individual involved in the research of the virus were also given the award, and a huge ceremony was planned which would be broadcast across the cities. Many viewing parties, and celebrations were planned, especially as the Irish, and several of their Kentucky kindred, had managed to acquire facilities and resources, from the Alterrans, which made the wide-scale production and distribution of Guinness, and other Spirits, possible.

Life began to return to normal for the average Citizens of Earth, and only time would tell what events were to come.

*****Sector 6024-B a.k.a. the "State of Liberty"*****

"Carl, cut the viewer off and get into bed," began the scraggly voice of Rick Grimes. _Thank God_, Rick thought to himself, _my boy has a safe place to lay his head at night…new clothes, good food, and we don't have to worry about the other survivors anymore. Can I really relax and let my guard down now?_

"But Dad, it was a live stream of our hometown! I could still see walkers and everything….I was trying to see if I could find any survivor and report them for extraction. Just because we got lucky doesn't mean everyone else did; there could still be people out there and I want to help them."

_My son is either a saint or a sadist…I can barely stand to think about home, I couldn't stand seeing it the way it is now._ "Carl I want you to listen to me and you listen good. I don't mind you tuning this thing in to see landscapes, the news, or even other parts of the city…but I do not want you tuning back in to watch Walkers. That's all behind us and the new government is going to do everything they can to get rid of those things so one day we might be able to go home." Rick sat down on the plush bed as he tucked his son in, Lori stood silently at the doorway having heard Carl's whine from their dining area. "These people, the Alterrans, have given us a new chance at life son, and I want you to pay attention to me when I say this: you can't live in the past, you can only live in the now and try not to repeat your past mistakes."

"We've lost friends, family, and loved one's Carl, and nothing I say or do will ever be able to bring them back…but you can live and make them proud son. I went down to the education ministry the Alterrans have set up for us, and until the schools for each district can be finished, they're holding classes for all children and teens over the view screens. I want you to focus on your lessons son, and I want you to not get so tied up in the past you forget to live. We didn't come through it all just to loose ourselves to sorrow or our fears."

"But I'm not afraid Daddy," Carl began, "I want to go back and kill all of those things. I want to go home. I want to make all of those things pay for what they did to us."

"Carl, you can't think like that," Lori began as she entered her son's bedroom. "The Walkers were victims of a very nasty virus…They became what nature made them, and we can't hold that against them. They were innocent people like we all were," she draped her arms around her husband's shoulders, "they were families like we were who weren't as lucky as we are. They didn't choose to become Walkers, and they didn't have the ability to target any of us…they just became what the virus made them…victims." Rick took her hand into his and brought it up to his lips for a kiss.

"Your mother is right Carl. Do you hate Sophie?" It was a low blow, and Rick knew it, but it was an effective blow that made his son think.

"No Dad," Carl said as tears began to well in his eyes, "but it wasn't fair!" The tears began to freely flow as sobs wracked his small frame, "she didn't deserve to die! She was my friend, and she'd suffered so much because of her dad…and Carol is so lonely now. It's not fair!"

Rick and Lori shared a look and let Carl express his sorrows…it was a therapy hundreds of thousands of families were sharing with the Grimes family; and it's very likely that it wouldn't be the only time either.

* * *

><p>*****Deep Space: Unknown Location Several Galaxies Away*****<p>

A signal began to resonate with the twisted and sinister black halls, and the blue/white flames danced in their sconces. The signal's purpose and its origin were unknown to the people of Earth or their Alterran friends; yet the consequences of that signal had the potential to be felt for generations to come…should there be any survivors that is.

* * *

><p>***To Be Continued***<p>

To all of my Anon Reviewers: I wish I could respond personally…thank you for taking the time to review.

Everyone Else: Holy Shit…I've never gotten this many reviews from _anything_ I've written before and I'm completely overwhelmed by the sheer number of you that have reviewed and left so many positive remarks. For those of you who have offered constructive critiques I have taken them to heart, and appreciate you even more so. I have been able to relax while writing this in a way I've never been able to before.

Constructive Critique: I've gotten like 3 separate reviewers who's only critique, other than loving the concept and story, was to say that the dialogue should be broken up into a paragraph for each speaker. I am taking this critique under advisement for future chapters, and my only defense is thus: I was utilizing the format to show "rapid dialogue" between characters. To that end I've attempted to go back and break up the paragraphs into one paragraph per speaker, but the hour is late and I'm exhausted…I may have missed something. If I did, please forgive me.

My recommendation: If you like my writing style, you will love Bobmin356, Robst, Rorcharch's Blot, and most of the stories contained in my Community Archive. There are so many authors on here that are better than I'll ever be…I'm humbled so many of you are reading and sharing my little story.

Let's see if we can't get up to 500 reviews, or more, and over 10,000 views before next Sunday! That's never happened to me before, so I'm relying on your help. If you can help me reach this goal I promise you'll love what I have planned for when the story _actually _ picks up. What you've seen ain't nothing yet!


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